May 2023
Dear Friends,
Greetings from rainy Arusha. I am writing to thank you for your March donations to Emusoi. They are helping us to continue to operate. This month brought us the beautiful celebration of Easter and the promise of renewed life. Tanzanian schools closed for spring break and our walls had to expand to welcome in many of our students. Fortunately, some of the schools kept the students at the schools, instead of sending them to us, especially the girls in far-off schools. The break is only 7-8 days and travelling might take 2 days coming and going, so it is not worth it to travel. Besides the short time, travel in the rainy seasons can be dangerous with flooding, bridges washing out and landslides. We are thankful for the rain, but it also brings its dangers.
Our pre-secondary students are working hard and most of them are improving. It’s great to see them gain confidence as they learn what they were supposed to have been taught in primary school. Now they get it and they are blossoming. They are beginning to think of what school they want to go to next year and what they want to study. These are girls who had all failed their primary national exams and their only thoughts of their future were to get married and start bearing children. They now have role models for a different life as they meet up with our older students who tell them about different secondary schools and talk about different careers. The girls’ minds are being expanded and they are beginning to learn how to make decisions for themselves.
I am always amazed to see the growth and development of our students. Just yesterday, Sinyati came to visit. I have known her since she was in primary school. Her older brother is a priest in the Diocese and he helped her to come to Arusha town to go to primary school since the public schools are better in town than in the villages. She lived with some sisters in one of the parishes. When she was in her last years of primary school, she came to live at Emusoi. She joined secondary school and studied for a diploma in library science.
She is now working in the Arusha campus of the Catholic University. She is married with two children. She told me that she has applied to university to get her degree. She will take evening classes and be sponsored by her work place. She was so composed and happy as she told me her news and the memories of all I knew about her passed through my mind. I thanked God for all of you who are supporting us and enabling us to educate such young women as Sinyati. You are doing a great work and helping to bring change to the pastoralist’s communities and to the lives of these young women and their families. I thank you so much and I beg you to keep remembering us in your generosity. We cannot continue without your support.
May God bless you all.
Sr. Mary Vertucci
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.