Ilongero hostel entrance
Our dream is to build a hostel for girls near the secondary school of every village where a large number of capable girls are not at school simply because of distance, costs and increasingly danger. Hostels reduce the vulnerability of girls away from home whilst attending secondary schools by shielding them from gender violence when walking or renting unsuitable accommodation. Hostels also help with studies and concentration as girls have more time to study, are saved the long, tiring walk to and back and the inevitable share of household chores. In a group setting, they get to share in educational resources, such as books, peer reviews and homework time.
Our first hostel was built on the grounds of Ilongero Secondary School and you can see it being built in our picture gallery. The story of how the idea was presented to us would be the same in every rural community and we are doing our best to get funding for the next one in the village of Kinyeto in the Singida Rural District too. It costs £25,000 to build a 60 bed hostel, please help us by donating today.
why we need to fund lots of girls hostels
It may seem hard to believe but once they finish their homework, Fatuma, Maria, Pilli, Maimuna and Elizabeth have to fetch water, cook, wash their clothes, queue for the only bathroom and toilet (we are talking bucket and drop hole here) along with another 50 or so people and get into these two joined single beds for the night. Yet, none of this dampens their spirits because they think they are lucky for still being at school and a secondary one at that.
girls in rented room, cooking
Indeed, Fatuma, Maria, Pilli, Maimuna and Elizabeth (who is cooking) are pupils at the Ilongero Secondary School in Singida, Tanzania. As for the majority of rural students living too far away they have to rent accommodation. In a poor country like Tanzania, this usually means overcrowded, insalubrious and downright unsuitable rooms away from parental guidance and safety. Rooms are often part of a complex of mixed accommodation so girls are never far from men, who will often be drunk and may have quite different ideas about the role of young women. In such conditions, life is often frightening and dangerous for girls.
rented room - sharing 2 single beds
Pili says: “I have to share my bed and it’s hard to sleep. I like my friends but there is no privacy. I have to study in the evenings but there is no electricity and when it gets dark I am scared because there are no locks. Some girls have been abused, even raped. I have no safe place to go but I really want to study. Please help to build me a new safe building so I can have a bed of my own and locks on the doors”.
