In January of 2021, Lisa McKenzie was able to travel to Tanzania to open the first Namayana Nursery School in Losimingiori, Arusha, Tanzania. This school is the culmination of over two years of dreaming and planning by two educators who live in different countries and different cultures. The Namayana Project, the nonprofit organization established by Mrs. McKenzie, paid for the setup of the school including two buildings, salaries for all staff, uniforms and school supplies for the fifty students, a laptop, and a printer/copier for the school. The school day runs from 8:00am to noon, Monday through Friday. Each student also receives breakfast each day. The school officially opened Thursday, January 7, 2021, with a community celebration.
I was at a loss as to what to do first when I was introduced to Emmaus Road Partners. With their help, I was able to narrow my focus down to ten tasks that I needed to do in order to get started. By August of 2020, I had started a nonprofit called “The Namayana Project”
The parents pay 5,000 tzs/week (the equivalent of around $2.50) and contribute firewood for the kitchen. This community does not currently have a nursery school, so the local government has blessed the project and asked them to build more nursery schools around the area.
