A (pre-)school for Akheri

Give children access to a (pre-)school - and to a better future!

Many children in Akheri, Tanzania, do not attend daycare centres because their parents cannot afford them financially. The Zorah NGO would therefore like to start here and make a difference in the lives of children from disadvantaged families by offering them a low-cost or free daycare centre place. After all, a place in a daycare centre helps the children - and gives the parents more freedom to pursue gainful employment.

The NGO launched the first daycare centre class in March 2025. They have met with great demand. They visited the families in person and selected the first 15 children. In addition to childcare, the Zorah NGO offers the children two meals a day, which supports their physical health and development.

#The vision of the Zorah NGO

The day care centre is only part of the Zorah NGO’s vision. In the short term, they want to open a kindergarten class - and in the long term, they also want to build a primary school for children from disadvantaged families in the Akheri district. That is why we are using this crowdfunding to raise money to continue the daycare centre and start a kindergarten class on the one hand - and to provide seed capital for the purchase of a plot of land to build their own school building on the other. Because with a rental contract, there is always the risk that they will be cancelled and have to move location. At the same time, the outdoor space in the current premises is very limited and there is no garden.

#Do you know the challenges of the Tanzanian school system?

Kindergarten and the seven years of primary school are taught in Swahili at the public school and children learn English in one subject. From upper secondary school onwards - i.e. also at grammar school and university - lessons are taught exclusively in English. Swahili is only taught as a subject. And English is hardly spoken in everyday life here. Families who can afford it send their children to English-speaking primary schools. On the one hand, they are better prepared for the schools that follow and, on the other, they benefit from better teaching. This is because there are up to 60 children in one class in the state schools.

As long as they do not have their own primary school, the Zorah NGO aims to find sponsors for ’their children’ who will enable them to attend a public school. For this reason, the carers at the daycare centre mainly speak English with the children. The costs for a public school - including school materials, uniform, excursions, depending on the school - amount to around CHF 600 per pupil per year (= CHF 50 per month).

How did this crowdfunding come up?

Marie-Louise is a single mother herself and therefore understands the need that the Zorah NGO team wants to alleviate. She is currently travelling through East Africa for the first time with her 4-year-old son. In search of a place where they could actively work for a month and immerse themselves in the everyday lives of the local people, she found Osward’s guest house. It was through him that she got to know the Zorah NGO and its vision. She is keen to build a bridge between East Africa and Europe with her travel blog ’Nomadic Encounters’ and this crowdfunding programm.

She herself benefits from daycare credits in the canton of Bern, which allow her son to attend a daycare centre - and enable her to work. However, there is no such state support in Tanzania. Here, a job means food, and no job means no food. This is why the Zorah NGO’s daycare centre project meets an existential need here.

We need your donation for that:

Our final donation target is CHF 60,000. CHF 7,920 will be used to finance the continuation of the pre-school class and an additional kindergarten class of 20 pupils each over the next two years. In addition, CHF 1000 will be used for initial purchases for furnishings and lesson organization. We need the rest of the proceeds as start-up capital to purchase a plot of land on which the ZORAH NGO can build its own school premises in the future. In total, the ZORAH NGO expects to spend CHF 90,000 on the purchase of the land plus the construction of the building.

What are the monthly fixed costs for ZORAH NGO to run a daycare centre and a kindergarten class?

• CHF 150 allowance for two teachers
• CHF 150 rent for two classrooms (incl. water + electricity costs)
• CHF 30 food for breakfast + lunch for the pupils = CHF 330.- per month x 12 = CHF 3’960.- per year x 2 = 7’920.-

In addition, there are one-off expenses for furnishing the rooms:

• CHF 240 for a carpet in both rooms
• CHF 450 for a swing in the garden
• CHF 90 for toys
• CHF 220 for the purchase of school materials (paper, pens, books, etc.) = CHF 1,000.- total for initial purchases

Total of monthly costs for two years + one-off expenses = CHF 9’000