October 2024
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Tanzania. We have lovely weather these days as it is building up for the short rainy season. I have been so sad seeing the death and destruction that has been taking place in the southeast parts of the US with hurricane Helene. We are praying for you all.
I am writing to thank you for your contributions sent in July and August. I am sorry that I am so late in thanking you but we have been very busy these days. We have had a number of tight deadlines to meet with reports and proposals, so I didn’t get a chance to write. A lot has been taking place in the past 2 months.
First our almost thirty Form 6 graduates all qualified for university. Many came back to Emusoi to get help to apply to colleges and to apply for student loans. All the girls who came to Emusoi and applied to universities have been accepted for the courses they wanted. And we just heard a few days ago, that almost everyone has been awarded student loans. So, our girls will soon be off to begin their university studies by the end of October. CONGRATULATIONS TO THEM ALL!!
Besides working with the older girls, we also were involved with the selections for our students for 2025. Primary students sat for their final national exams at the beginning of September and we travelled to some nearby areas and met other students in central parts to administer exams and have interviews. We selected 23 students who had finished primary school and who scored well in our exams and whose families would not have been able to support them in secondary school.
These girls are now with us in our 3-month preparatory course. They have joined the 12 girls who have been with us since January and they are all preparing diligently to join secondary school. All of them have been accepted already in a private school. Two girls from our pre-secondary group will be going to vocational school and one girl may have to repeat the pre-secondary course.
We used to give the girls a whole year preparatory course and they benefited greatly from it. But a change in the government educational policy does not permit us to do that anymore. So, we try to squeeze everything in during three months. It’s not as good, but it helps. Seven of our girls have gone to their new schools already. Their schools also have three-month prep courses and they have required our students to attend rather than having them stay at Emusoi.
Your contributions have helped us get these girls to the different schools to take the exams and to buy all the things they need to begin school. We haven’t begun our big shopping yet as we buy all the mattresses, sheets, blankets, trunks, shoes, hoe, brooms, etc. that we need for the 27 remaining girls who will begin school in January. So, I thank you so much for your support; you are changing the lives of these young women, giving them options that they never would have had if they had stayed at home. They would have been facing early marriage and beginning to bear children at the age of 13 or 14!
But now they are beginning their school careers, looking forward to being a teacher, tour guide, nurse, doctor and even a soldier OR A PILOT! They want to get an education to help their parents and families and they are beginning to be aware of their responsibilities to the development of their communities.
Our older girls who are here who are waiting to join universities have been good role models and mentors for them, supervising their evening study time and helping them with difficult topics. They will miss these “Wadada” (big older sisters), when they go off to school at the end of the month.
I beg you all not to grow tired of helping these young women. You support and interest in our students is such a positive way of helping to heal our broken world. I thank you and the girls thank you. May God bless you all.
With peace,
Sr. Mary
Note: All donations should be sent via Maryknoll Sisters, Box 311, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0311. Checks need to be issued in the name of “Maryknoll Sisters”, with “Emusoi Center” written on the memo line. Please include a note designating the gift for Emusoi Center, Arusha, Tanzania. You will receive an acknowledgement from Maryknoll which can be used for tax purposes. I will also send you a thank you from here. If you do not hear from me, let me know about your donation. It will take 2 months or so for me to get news of your donation. You can also contribute electronically; use this link: https://www.maryknollsisters.org/support-us/donate-now/ Write “Emusoi Center/Sr. Mary Vertucci” in comment/intention field. If any of you would like to receive this newsletter by email, just write me at emusoicenter@gmail.com and let me know. Thank you.