The Tongabezi Trust School was set up by Vanessa Parker, who was previously teaching as a volunteer in Livingstone. Vanessa is the wife of Ben, who established Tongabezi in 1990 together with the late William Ruck-Keene. The school opened on 1 May 1996 and due to its huge success it has been growing ever since. Vanessa donates her time to the school on a purely voluntary basis. The school provides education to the Tongabezi staff children, as well as children from the local community, in an area where educational funding and materials are scarce. Tujatane has grown from a pre-school class of 15 children, to a primary school with over 280 students. The school has charity status in the UK and is completely funded on donations. Apart from the first classroom, which Tongabezi built, the development of the school has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of donors all over the world. These donations range from individual child sponsorship, teacher sponsorship, help with our food programme, medical programme to building projects. The school currently has nine classrooms, five offices, a library, a kitchen, an amphitheater, a storeroom, a computer room with 26 donated computers, a science lab, a dining hall and a fantastic music room with guitars and keyboards as well as local instruments such as the marimba. We now have over 35 members of staff, including teachers, assistant teachers, a counsellor and administrators to provide support across the school. The dedication and enthusiasm of the teaching staff has resulted in fun and lively classrooms full of interest and activity. While the cultures of different countries vary in myriad ways, they also contain many shared values. Among these is the universal understanding that education is a core component of healthy development. Tujatane is providing an education to over 280 children whose ages range from two to fifteen years. All students come from low income families and from walking distance of the school. The children of Tujatane typically live with their families in mud huts. They have no running water and limited access to electricity. The huts are comprised of one or two rooms which are used as bedrooms for parents and children and a living room for all. The kitchen is an outside charcoal burner. The shower is a grass wall to which the family brings a bucket for washing themselves. Through education, Tujatane becomes the starting point for change. The children and their parents understand that education will bring opportunity. You can help to make that opportunity happen. By sponsoring a child at Tujatane, you bring assurance of education to her and her family. You will have the wonderful pleasure of getting to know your child through email or traditional correspondence, which we encourage. You'll be able to follow your child's progress through the school through updates each term. And you will know that you have provided the cornerstone for the improvement of living conditions for the people of Tongabezi. Tujatane currently feeds all of its 280+ students and teaching staff a full lunch every day. Students also receive porridge at break times, as it's rare that the children will have breakfast at home. The menu is basic, but nutritionally balanced with eggs on the menu three days a week and beans on the other days. The Tongabezi Trust School also supports students when they finish in Grade 9 and continues to fund their education at secondary school and beyond. Currently we have over 75 pupils on our secondary school programme and over 25 pupils on our tertiary programme
For more information please visit our website www.tujatane.com
