Hello Daybreakers, This week our guest speaker was Seif Sakate telling us about the “Bandari Project”. What an enthusiastic speaker he is, and what a fantastic project he has founded. I’m very glad he was able to come and talk to us. I have grabbed the following information from their website : http://bandariproject.org The Bandari Project is a not for profit organisation that aims to provide a quality education to disadvantaged children in Mto wa Mbu, Tanzania. We are in the process of building a school which will offer a safe and engaging learning experience to children who normally wouldn’t have access to good schooling experience. The main focus is to recruit children who come from poor families that can not afford a good education. With the purpose of giving the children an English based education system from the kindergarten to their last year of primary school. Another facet of the project will be working with women living in difficult circumstances, giving them opportunities in education and agriculture. |  |
The name “Bandari” means “Port” in Swahili, we chose this name to recognise the connection to the town of Port Fairy in Victoria, Australia, where much of the support for this project has come from. “Bandari” in Swahili can mean shelter, safety or sanctuary, this reflects what we hope our school will be to the students who attend it. The Bandari project was founded in 2014 by Seif Sakate and Catherine Ryan and began with the idea of supporting disadvantaged students with their studies, but soon became the much bigger project of building a primary school. In April, 2015 a group of 17 volunteers from Port Fairy, Melbourne and Queensland travelled to Mto wa Mbu to build the first phase of the project, the kindergarten. Mto wa Mbu was chosen firstly because it is the village in which Seif Sakate was born and raised, and secondly because there are a lot of students who are not able to access a good education. Our school is located close to a Maasai community, it is likely that the majority of our students will come from this community. The Maasai typically live in very remote locations that make it difficult for their children to attend school, providing a school near them we will encourage more Maasai children to get an education. Congratulations and thankyou to Sue, Lydia and Liza for organising and running a very successful Movie night on Thursday. “Victoria and Abdul” was well attended, and we managed to profit $2,245.00, which when multiplied x 3 = $6735.00 – great effort from everyone who helped run the night, as well as to those who supported us and purchased a ticket. Sad news, Honorary Daybreaker Barry Parker passed away last Wednesday. For those newer members of Daybreak, not only was he a member of Daybreak for several years, but also the Jamo Crossing Attendant for many years. Our deepest sympathy to Pam. For those who wish to attend, his funeral will be at Eastern Park, Verdon Street on Tuesday at 2 pm. “Making a Difference” Cheers, Jan | ) |