Village Schools International

VSI’s First College To Open in 2012

Girls at Village Schools International’s Imauluma Campus

The good news just keeps on coming for our partner school in Tanzania, Village Schools International: first, the news that 93.6% of the school’s students passed the national exams. Now, we’re ecstatic to share that VSI is moving beyond secondary education, and has a goal of building its first college in 2012!

The school would be called the Leadership Training College, and would be a step further in the education system in Tanzania that VSI has strived to improve over the years with its secondary schools across the nation. So far, VSI has been able to build a library and computer lab at the college’s campus in the Iringa village, and they are working on additional buildings and education plans with the help of their Regional Education Officer and community members. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for VSI’s first college—and can only hope that one of the girls we sponsor at VSI will end up at the college some day!

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93.6 Percent of VSI Students Pass National Exam

Girls attend class at a Village International School

This year in Tanzania, local newspapers blasted headlines about the education system facing a major crisis. Students were failing the country’s national exams at an alarmingly high rate, including the government schools, which had reportedly seen 4 out of every 5 students fail. But we are proud to announce that students at our partner school, Village Schools International, are beating the odds: 829 out of their 885 students who took the national exam passed the test — that’s 93.6 percent!

Village Schools International strives to give opportunities to the wasiochaguliwa, or the “unchosen ones”—the students who are orphaned or come from poor neighborhoods that society deems “not good enough” for their government schools. We are so happy that these children at our partner school are showing the world that no matter what your economic or social status, with the right resources and encouragement, you can succeed in school, beyond an entire country’s expectations.

But we’re bringing you even more great news from Tanzania: VSI, which is a network of 21 secondary schools, is now opening a kindergarten school! In an effort to give young children in the Tanzanian village of Madisi a head start in life before heading to primary school, VSI began building a kindergarten building at the beginning of March that they hope will be finished in time for the next school year. We can’t wait to hear how the future kindergartners will do!

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Sweet News: We Sponsored TWO More Girls in Tanzania

Students in the Village Schools International Program

We have incredibly exciting news to continue the amazing start to our New Year! One of our business partners, Baking for Good, an online bake sale that supports meaningful causes, raised $115 for She’s the First, just enough to sponsor a girl at Village Schools International in Tanzania!

But wait, if you can believe it, there’s more: remember back in April when we announced that there was an anonymous couple who was so inspired by young women at Notre Dame who raised enough money to sponsor two girls at VSI, that they pledged to match all contributions to VSI through She’s the First? Back then, we thought the couple’s pledge was up until October 2010, but it turns out the donors are STILL matching all She’s the First donations towards VSI — so the $115 raised by Baking for Good will be DOUBLED, which means that we will be able to sponsor TWO girls at Village Schools International!

We couldn’t be more ecstatic, especially because VSI’s founder Steve Vinton just shared with us that VSI is gearing up to open their 20th school — yes, 20th — on January 17th in the village of Lyapona!

“We’ve been spreading the word that we want every kid to come from that village and from the surrounding villages, and we are hoping that there will be many girls coming — so every scholarship is important,” says Vinton. “Looks like people really did ‘bake for good!’”

With the news that our generous anonymous donors are continuing to match donations, we are encouraging potential sponsors and college chapters to choose VSI as a school where you’d like to sponsor a girl. Just like Baking for Good, the funds you raise can help not just one girl, but two, get the education she deserves.

Special thanks to Baking for Good (which donates 15% from your purchases to She’s the First), these generous anonymous donors, and Steve Vinton at Village Schools International!

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Directory Update: Village Schools International Holds First Graduation!

here's the school!

Here at She’s the First, the Research Team is assigned to certain schools in the directory, and we check in quarterly with the directors to find out what’s new with the girls. I am assigned to one of our partner programs in Tanzania, Village Schools International, which has received a few sponsorships through She’s the First — one came from students at the University of Notre Dame, another from raffle proceeds of an Urban Girl Squad event in NYC. In this update, I’m proud to present very exciting news: VSI recently held their first graduation ceremony!

VSI brings missionary teachers and community members together to build schools in small villages in Tanzania and raise funds for scholarships to give students the education they can’t otherwise afford. Starting with just three schools in 2005, VSI now has 19 schools. The Lukima Secondary School, located in the small village of Maguu, graduated 38 students on  September 17 — and 20 of them were girls! Everyone from government officials, parents, and the community members attended the graduation, which consisted of day-long festivities with dancing, food and music.

Steve Vinton, one of the school’s founders, shared his thoughts on the momentous day with us:

“It was tremendously exciting for people and it was pure joy. What I know is that all of those who have graduated have the world before them and their futures are infinitely brighter than if they had not been able to go to school. All of our students are know in Tanzania as “wasiochaguliwa” — the “unchosen ones.” We take all of the kids who aren’t chosen for the few places available in the government boarding schools. I love seeing them get a chance at life. Graduation at Lukima was a great day, a great victory for those on the bottom who struggle for a better life for their kids. They did something wonderful.”

To learn more about Village Schools International or to sponsor a student via She’s the First, contact info@shesthefirst.org, or visit http://www.villageschools.org/donate.html.

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NEWSFLASH! Anonymous Donors Will Match Your Sponsorships at Village Schools International Via She's the First!

We told you there was big news on the way, and here it is! A couple who wishes to remain anonymous heard how young women at Notre Dame fundraised for She’s the First, sponsoring two girls at Village Schools International in Tanzania. This couple has pledged to match all donations up to $5,000 that come through She’s the First!! So two girls go to school every time you fundraise for one! Sponsorship for orphaned children in VSI’s program is only $110 for a year.

Just remember, this happened because Monica Townsend’s dorm sponsored a girl in Liberia, inspiring Julie Wamser to get her dorm behind Tanzania. Julie’s success inspired these donors to double your efforts to support more girls at VSI. You can be next — prove how fun fundraising can be, how powerful a contribution of a few dollars can be when added up among friends or an entire campus. Who knows where your ripple effect on girls’ education worldwide will lead!

Send the flyer below around and email tammy@shesthefirst.org to get involved.

Sponsor a girl at Village Schools International in Tanzania through She's the First, and TWO girls will be sponsored -- thanks to an anonymous couple matching your donation!

Sponsor a girl at Village Schools International in Tanzania through She's the First, and TWO girls will be sponsored -- thanks to an anonymous couple matching your donation!

Special thanks to Dianna Porter for designing our graphic.

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Sponsor Spotlight: Lewis Hall at University of Notre Dame

Julie Wamser's efforts at Notre Dame sponsored two girls in Tanzania!

Julie Wamser's efforts at Notre Dame sponsored two girls in Tanzania!

We’re so proud to shed the latest ‘sponsor spotlight’ on Julie Wamser at Notre Dame. You may have read our post last week announcing her breaking news that two girls would be sponsored in Tanzania! Here, read about how Julie made it happen. What we love most of all is that her inspiration came from a past ‘sponsor spotlight,’ Monica Townsend, whose dorm at Notre Dame sponsored a girl in Liberia back in October. Girl sponsorship has a ripple effect!

Name: Julie Wamser
Age: 19, University of Notre Dame, Pursuing B.S. degree in Computer Science and B.A. degree in French
Money Raised: $227
How: Lewis Hall has a week-long dorm event called “Crush Week” which culminates in a BBQ and dance. I was one of the dorm commissioners for this event. I decided that pairing a charity that supports underprivileged girls’ education with our dorm event made perfect sense.  After all, the women of Lewis Hall have the opportunity to pursue higher education. A cause to help young girls across the world take a step closer to achieving the same thing surely would win plenty of support!  Therefore, a donation box was included at ticket sales for the weekend dance, along with a multitude of posters put up around the dorm encouraging girls to contact their RAs to make donations within their section to this incredible cause.  At week’s end, we had raised enough money to support two girls in Tanzania [at Village Schools International]!

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Two Girls Sponsored in Tanzania!

Village Schools International Classroom in Tanzania

Village Schools International Classroom in Tanzania

Monica, Activities Coordinator for She’s the First, sponsored a girl in Liberia by collecting $2-$5 donations from all the girls in her dorm at Notre Dame. Her friend Julie saw how easy and impactful that was, and she got her own dorm involved, raising enough to sponsor two girls in Tanzania, at Village Schools International! We’ll publish a ‘sponsor spotlight’ with more details on how Julie did it soon…but we couldn’t wait to share a heartwarming thank you note from Steve Vinton, who is director of VSI schools in Tanzania. It’ll make you even more eager to rock the world!

I realize in the grand scheme of things there are those who would question if it really matters all that much if two girls in little villages in Africa get to go to school or not. I’ll admit that what the women of Lewis Hall have done won’t change the world, but in a very real sense it will change the world for those two girls. And after having lived in small villages in Africa myself for over two decades now, I can attest that it will also “change the world” for their families and also for their villages. Every girl today who studies makes it all that much easier for other girls in her village to study in the future. I say all of this as my way of saying thank you for what you all have done. When we first started VSI in 2005, we vowed that we would not go to all of the trouble to start these schools if it meant that only boys would get to go. For poor people it is not at all that they don’t want their daughters to go to school, it’s just that when you are very poor you have to make very tough choices and you have to go with the odds, and so if you only have enough money to send one child to school, you always choose to send the boy. Our goal has simply been to tip the economic scales by offering these scholarships to make it feasible for poor people to also let their daughters go to school. Thanks to people like you, our dream has been realized in a far greater way than we ever dreamed possible. Out of 3,643 students, over 1,900 of them are girls, and every single one of those girls is a great victory. I wish that I could personally somehow convey to all of those who gave money for this project the immensity of what has actually happened, but my job is to be here in Tanzania (I teach in the village of Igoda), so I will leave it up to you to please find a way to properly thank all of those who have participated in making this possible. We certainly do appreciate your efforts.

- Steve Vinton, Director of Village Schools International

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