New equipment in the private vocational training centre in Mbeya/Tanzania

The Stuttgart couple Beate and Dr. Gerhard Haag have dedicated themselves to several school projects in the East African country of Tanzania since 2007. One of these is the Moravian Vocational Training Centre, a private vocational school run by the Moraivian Protestant Church in Mbeya, a city of about 200,000 inhabitants 700 km southwest of the capital Dar es Salaam near the border with Zambia and Malawi. The vocational school is one of the few ways out of the poverty trap for 300 to 400 young people in meager living conditions into a learned profession. Many of the children are orphans and live in a dormitory attached to the school. In the beginning, the school only taught purely manual skills such as carpentry and tailoring. Gradually, other training courses were added, such as home electrics, solar energy, cooking and car mechanics. The private school is under state supervision. It is taught according to curricula prescribed by the state. This includes teaching basic skills in the use of IT technology. Dedicated teachers also give additional courses in computer applications. This requires sufficiently modern equipment, nowadays laptops. Although the church sponsor of the school can bear the running costs such as teachers' salaries, etc., it cannot bear the investments in equipment. Therefore, we have decided with a light heart to finance the equipment of the school's second IT laboratory, which is so important for the future of the school children in Mbeya, with a substantial share.In the meantime, the new equipment has been purchased and the designated classrooms and library rooms have been refurbished. On the one hand, the new laptops are used to teach all school visitors basic IT skills, and on the other hand, special IT skills are also taught to external course participants in separate courses. In addition, some laptops are used for Internet research in the school's own library.

Since 2022: Scholarships for 10 scholl girls from the Massai tribe and a contribution to the euipment for a new training branch

In 2022, we continued our support for the vocational school in Mbeya. 10 girls from the Maasai tribe, whose families have relocated from their original homeland and are living in difficult circumstances, will now receive a scholarship to study hard in the school's boarding school and build a more hopeful future for themselves. In addition, we are contributing to the basic equipment of the school for a new - meanwhile very much in demand - training course to become a plumber and heating engineer.