Introducing Kilines Sewkiha, My Big Hero #1
"These students believe they belong in the best secondary schools and there is power in that belief" - Kilines Sekwiha
A name that I have been dropping left and right, with little explanation for my full-hearted dedication, is that of Kilines Sekwiha. She is another inspiring person who I have started to love without ever meeting.
Kilines is an inspiration for many more reasons than me just saying so; she's a dreamer that has transformed her dreams into reality. While she grew in Mlali, she began the foundations of her education that would eventually lead to a PhD at the University of Edinburgh and her position as head of school at the University of Dar Es Salaam. She currently resides there and puts her passion into lecturing within the university. When she moved to the largest city in Tanzania, she did not leave her past behind, even though Mlali remains a 7 hour drive west of Dar Es Salaam.
She returned and founded the Queen Elizabeth Academy, exemplary throughout the area as the only English medium school. An English medium school is one where in Nursery school, at age 3, students are introduced to Swahili and English, and by Standard 2, the children are taught solely in English.
English serves as a key tool for the many professional sectors of the world and was crucial for Kilines' own success.
The QEA Boarding House will bring access to education to many more children while simultaneously changing a dream into a reality. As the QEA is currently composed of 2/3 students who can not (and are not expected to) pay fees, bringing more children in would ensure a sustainable school system for all of the children.
This boarding house is seen by the larger community as a new opportunity for their children.
One day, when Kilines was travelling to Mlali from the city, she got off the bus at the largest local town, ready to get a motorbike the rest of the way. As she put one foot down onto the dusty road, she realised that she was surrounded by a group of parents, all asking for a place for their child at her school in Mlali.
She had to turn them down. There is nowhere for the children to stay.
Many of these parents were still determined to place their children in the school. For a period of time, three children, Rebecca, Timotheo, and Erasto, lived together in a room rented by their parents, in an act of obstinate determination to send these children to the Queen Elizabeth Academy. These three children cooked for themselves, bathed themselves, and looked after each other. It was a short-live venture, though, as it was not a sustainable option without any parental guidance. Timotheo and Erasto transferred to a different school and Rebecca now lives with her relatives. Their parents had seen tremendous opportunities in the form of QEA and were looking for a way to tap in to that future.
Kilines, ever the pragmatic dreamer, dreamed the boarding house up. A place where children without homes and families can live side by side with children who are far from theirs, creating one large community, one large family, and many opportunities.
We have the land, the foundations, the steel reinforcements, I am raising money for the walls. These walls will be the home that the children know at the end of each school day and the beginning of each morning. They will weather all weather (I had to) and provide a new labyrinth of promise for incoming students.
Join me. Run a marathon, have a bake sale, set up a penny jar in your neighborhood, talk to your boss, shave your head at the end of Movember, or dream up something new.
We have raised over $3000 so far and I know that we can put these walls up together. Let's get to $20,000 in no time!
$$$ On The Interwebs : stayclassy.org/annemarieqea
