Tanzania Partnership

Mara Community Visit "Fundraising" 2017/2018

Mr Wildey was given the opportunity to attend our partner region (Mara) and visit our partner school (Ragata) in February 2019. In order to make this happen, the church and school set about fundraising in order to cement those links and understand more about how we can help and learn from each other.

Mr Wainwright, our local community historian, led a week long Crigglestone/Sandal/Durkar archive and local history event in school during the Summer break. Across each of the 10 hour days our school welcomed the community to know more about our past, research family history and at the same time raise funds for the community visit. The event was such a success that the target for the visit was exceeded by the end of the event. Mr Wainwright was wonderful, as usual, and it is great to see our vision in community firmly in place.

As a result, Tanzania is included as a unit of work in our curriculum. Children learn about Tanzania in Geography, and we also link to Tanzania in whole school and class worships, looking at how we can support and develop our children spirutally as well as academically. 

Visiting Ragata 2019

On visiting Ragata, Mr Wildey has the opportunity to meet the Headteacher (Mr Masstaajabie Muganda), the teachers, the children and the wider school community. Mr Muganda provided a Headteacher Report for the St James Community:

Ragata was established in 1974 and it is a Government run school. Ragata has 8 teachers (6 male and 2 female) and there are 585 pupils. 317 are boys and 268 are girls. This works out at 73 children per teacher.

Ragata has 8 classrooms, 4 teacher houses, 8 toilet rooms (4 for boys and 4 for girls) and the nearest water source is 300m away from the school.

Unfortunately, some of the classrooms are unable to be used due to their condition. This has meant that children have had to share classes with different year groups so that they can continue learning. Lots of children work on the floor as there is not enough desks for them all.

A normal school day at Ragata starts at 7.30am and concludes at 4.30pm. For children in the equivalent of Years 4 to 6, they have 8 lessons a day. For children in Years 1 to 3 they have 6 lessons a day.

Due to the remote location of Ragata, there are pupils who live as far as 2km away and they have to walk to school, which can result in a lot of late marks and poor attendance. The children at Ragata get lunch in school everyday. PCT Tanzania provide food for the children and teachers for 3 days of the week and parents/school provide foor for the other 2 days.

Ragata has a love for sports. They have children who love football, netball and running. They aim for their children to play for teams like Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool.

Updates from Ragata 2022

July 2022

It has been fantastic to see the developments at Ragata since Mr Wildey's visit in 2019. Mr Muganda is still the Headteacher. The number of children who now attend Ragata has increased. The money which was raised in 2019 has been used to provide more desks for children (this means no child sits on the floor to learn anymore) and new classrooms have been built. This has provided work for local people.

Ragata also now has a water storage tank which was installed by PCI in 2021. The school now has electricity, which has meant communication between St James and Ragata can now be more frequent.

The children love to learn and they are studying hard for their exams. Many of the children are able to attend school everyday now and continue to be provided with a meal. 

September 2022

The new classrooms which were under construction have now been completed.

The children in Standard 7 completed their end of year exams (October 2022) and are now awaiting the results.

December 2022

Ragata have been in touch with us at the beginning of December to share news about the children and their exams.

They are extremely proud of all the children who have completed their Standard 7 exams. Those that have passed are now continuing their education journey to secondary school.

Unfortunately, 11 children did not pass their exams which means that they won’t be attending secondary school next year.

We will be in touch with Ragata to find out what is next for those 11 children and whether they will have the opportunity to continue their education.

July 2023

There had been a breakdown in communication through 2023 with a change in the Diocese. We now have a new link liaison officer called Misoji who will be sending updates on Ragata to Mr Wildey on a more regular basis.

We found out that the students who didn’t pass their exams and make the next step with their education are now working with their families and in Ragata. These children are mainly helping with farming and agricultural activities.

Ragata School continues to make progress. All children now have a bowl for breakfast and for dinner. The children are provided with porridge for breakfast and maize and beans in the afternoon. This is served to the children by the teachers.

September 2023

We were extremely fortunate to have Arthur visit us from Tanzania as part of his retirement. Arthur visited St James in 2016 – 2017 when our link with Ragata started. He was part of the organisation for Mr Wildey’s trip in 2019 and this was a wonderful opportunity to meet once again.

Arthur was part of a Tanzania assembly which shared information about Ragata and the children were able to ask him questions about life in Tanzania.

It was also a fantastic opportunity to invite Mr Walker (the Headteacher at Ackworth Howard) to St James as he was part of the 2019 party visiting his Tanzania school Mshikamano.

December 2023

In December, we received an update from the Mara Diocese about how Ragata now holds more events for parents to tell them about what is happening in school, opportunities for them to meet the teachers and ask questions. These have been very well attended and the support from parents remains high. Parents help with the making of the breakfast for the children before school.

The teachers are also now holding more meetings with agendas to ensure that they are offering the best education they can for the students.

January 2024

A Happy New Year from all at Ragata! The children and staff wished everyone at St James the best for 2024.

The children returned after a break excited to start their work again. More children now have their own books and pencils. In 2019 when Mr Wildey first visited, it would usually be children sharing equipment or children not having any equipment at all.

There are still classrooms which are under construction and needing further resources, but it is a steady process. We have been made aware that the children love coming to Ragata, love being in school and learning and that they have huge smiles on their faces on a daily basis.

With the new buildings being built, it has also meant some class sizes are reducing and classes are less cramped.