The Rotary Club of Dar es Salaam has kicked off a fund raising campaign to improve classroom-studying conditions for school pupils in Tanzania’s commercial capital - Dar es Salaam by providing desks.
The city faces some deficit of desks in primary schools rendering some pupils to sit on improvised objects when attending classes.
At the inception of the campaign, the Rotary Club of Dar es Salaam has targeted to provide one thousand (1,000) desks among schools starting with those most in need in the Ilala District.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam, the Rotary Club of Dar es Salaam President, Abdulqadir Abdulhameed, said that the club is on course to raise funds from well-wishers and other Rotary Clubs in and outside the country for a thousand desks.
“After a successful pilot phase we’ll then go for a full swing campaign that will include all the needy primary schools across the region,” he said.
As a start, he explained, Rotary Club of Dar es Salaam has organized a series fund raising activities including a talent show dubbed ‘Rotary Got Talents’ that was recently held in the city.
“It was a very successful event. The turnout was great too. We had fun but at the same time joined our hands for this noble cause,” he said adding: “We thank all the other Rotary Clubs in and outside the country for supporting us together with all the sponsors who made the event the success it was.”
The event gave a platform to Rotarians and their families together with some budding artistes from across the city to display their various talents from dancing, fashion show to voice imitation of popular political figures in the country, among others.
According to President Abdulqadir, the Rotary Club of Dar es Salaam will implement a project with a neutral environmental impact by planting corresponding number of tree seedlings that match the timber used to make each desk. “For the pilot alone over two thousand trees will be planted by fellow Rotarians, school kids who will be benefiting from the desks and communities around the schools,” he pointed out.
The Rotary Club of Dar es Salaam was chartered on 25th January 1949 as the first Rotary Club in Tanzania and in East Africa. It is part of the Rotary International - a global network of over a million volunteers from different backgrounds and professions working towards creating lasting positive change across the globe.
It works to promote peace, fight disease, provide clean water, sanitation and hygiene, save mothers and children, support education and supporting local economies.