Semembela Girls' Dormitory Project

2017 update There are now 32 girls living at the dormitory and attending secondary school. They are self-sufficient, doing their own shopping, cooking and washing. The matron is a teacher at the school and her house is nearby.

Dormitory Project

Semembela serves as a focus for several satellite villages and so, with the government expansion of secondary schooling nationally, a secondary school was set up in Semembela.

Children from all the village primary schools are now able to attend secondary school, not just the previous few with parents able to send them to boarding schools further away.

The problem is that the outer satellite villages are too far from Semembele to enable children to attend daily and so a dormitory building was required. The boys stay with local families but a dormitory block was needed to house the girls.

With the help of students from Durham University FUM sent nearly £6000 and this enabled the Phase 1 footings, walls and roof to be completed.

Funds from Cranbrook School and a grant from the British-Tanzania Society enabled doors, windows, internal ceilings and floors to be completed.

Dormitory opens January 2016

Nzega District Council took responsibility for the final phase, involving plastering of the walls, painting and equipping with furniture. Cranbrook School students in July 2015 helped with the painting and the dormitory opened at the start of the new school year in January 2016.

As a result many more girls in the district will be able to benefit from secondary school education, a very good outcome.