Leondson School

Note: The support for this project was carried out from 2021 to 2023. We have now concluded our collaboration between Hatua and Leondson School, as we have been unable to progress from point A to phase B due to serious management and transparency issues at the School regarding the use of our resources.

Arusha is a city in northern Tanzania, the capital of the Arusha Region. In the 2012 census, it had a population of 416,442 people. In Kanisani Street, one of the most disadvantaged areas of Arusha, was the Leondson Day Care Center School, a school where Ibrahim and his team met the daily needs of 58 children, offering them education, affection, and two meals a day.

Ibrahim has been dedicated to education since 2015 and was pleased to be able to share knowledge and inspire the local youth. Unfortunately, during his childhood, he also had to face many difficulties, but thanks to his brother James and local support, he was able to move forward, which served him to reach where he was, caring for and ensuring the wellbeing of 58 children.

Hatua means Action in Swahili, and that was the goal of this Foundation with Leondson Day Care Center School. We started in 2021 to help children get an education, keep them safe, and provide them with food and skills training initially. In 2022, we took a further step to be able to contribute talent to the different projects that were carried out there.

The goal? As the famous saying goes: “Don’t give a man a fish, teach him to fish” so that this wonderful place could be self-sustainable on its own without foreign interference.

The constant crisis experienced by the West accentuated the social disintegration of an already fragile state in some African countries. For example, the state of basic social services deteriorated significantly. Lack of security was a constant factor, and poverty was widespread. The increase in the cost of basic goods combined with inflation accentuated the already established famine in their daily lives, which they lived with normally, causing malnutrition to exceed emergency levels in some areas.

In this context, the project’s goal was to feed, accompany in education, and achieve self-sustainability for the most vulnerable people in this environment.

Our priorities included:

• Supporting children so they could have an education and a chance for improvement in their lives.
• Helping young people acquire the skills and knowledge they needed to make a living.
• Protecting children from all forms of violence, exploitation, and abandonment.
• Providing the youngest with the best start in life through preschool centers that addressed their health, education, and safety.
• Creating a dynamic work ecosystem for families to achieve the project’s self-sustainability goal without the need for third-party aid.

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