Standard 5 Term 3

As the year draws to an end we see another fantastic performance by Leboy.

As we can see, Leboy has finished the last term of standard 5 (the equivalent of the fifth grade) in third position and with very positive comments from his teacher and headmaster. As usual, he does very well in English and maths, even though they do not seem to be his strongest subjects, but keeps dropping points in French. As a reminder, French is actually the fourth language for many students at St Thomas, after English, Swahili, and their mother tongue (in Leboy's case, Ma).

I am hoping to be able to reward Leboy's efforts with a trip to an English speaking country sometime in 2014. If anyone reading this knows of any camps that Leboy might like (hint: soccer!) or knows of any scholarships that we might apply for, please contact me!

Happy holidays to everyone, and see you in 2014!

Standard 5 3rd Term Interim Report

Good news from Moshono. Leboy's midterm report is in and it looks like he's going to finish the school year strong. Ranking third, he's averaging good grades. Let's hope he can push till the end of the year and finish on top!

Leboy's 2nd term Standard 5

Leboy's report card of his second term at St Thomas Nurse & Primary School Standard 5 is here!

Once again Leboy has shown what he's capable of, ranking third with a plethora of As and some Bs in French, Sports, Computer, and Kiswahili. Even more encouraging is the fact that despite this great score his teacher seems to believe that Leboy is capable of so much more. More effort, the teacher says. From here we also say: Keep working hard, Leboy! Let's see you become number 1!

Pictures from Leboy's field trip and b-day party!

Below are some pictures from Leboy's birthday party and his field trip to Manyara park. He's growing up so fast!

Happy Birthday Leboy!

Yesterday was Leboy's birthday, and earlier this week his father sent me the mid-term report card. Our recently-turned twelve year-old is doing as well as ever, ranking 3rd in the middle of the school year. Congratulations and happy birthday, Leboy!

Direct Child Sponsorship Works

Direct child sponsorship has been around for a few decades now, but the effects of such programs have not been held to scrutiny... until now.

This paper provides a very elegant econometric analysis that such programs can have a positive effect on a child's future. Children who were sponsored under the organization the authors investigate completed more than one year of schooling on average and were much more likely to enter university and take up a white-collar job. It is a very well-written paper which I recommend anyone who has ever helped, or thought about helping, young children in need.

It is worth mentioning that Leboy's case is not a perfect match for this paper. First, any efforts to support Leboy are not channeled via any organization. It all comes from the people who are invested in his future: his family, his school, us... Second, Leboy isn't going to just any school. St Thomas is one of the top schools in Northern Tanzania with excellent teachers and resources. While this does not necessarily translate into future success, Leboy is in a much more privileged position than the children sampled in the paper to "make it" and pursue his dreams.

Leboy and Friend

Picture of Leboy (left) and his friend. Sent by Laizer. Looking healthy!

Leboy's mother

Here's a picture of Leboy's mother. Look at all the Masai jewelry that she's wearing! Thanks to Laizer for sending it!

St Thomas School - Some Videos

I'd like to introduce this series of videos I found on Youtube the other day. The videos are from 2011. I can't believe I hadn't seen them before. They are from some American volunteers who came to visit St Thomas for at least one day. The videos were done on a flip camera and so it's a little shaky, but one can get a really good idea of what St Thomas is like. 

Which is to say: awesome.

From the videos you can see how polite and disciplined the students are, both when they talk to the Americans and when they are supposed to be walking quietly behind the teacher. From the videos we learn that St Thomas has roughly 380 students, out of which 210 are boarders.

A great moment comes when the cameraman says, to himself and with no one around, "I would want to go to a school like this in the States." I wrote to him to get some more impressions from him but I still haven't received a reply

Check them out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybQ9mGQooHE&list=PLE48AF7763F57F22F

Letter from Leboy

This is the letter that Leboy wrote to thank Emma for her hard work.
You will notice that there is also reference to a Cristiano Ronaldo poster. This is referring to a wonderful gift by graphic designer Dan Leydon, who back in December posted on his Tumblr that he would send one of his posters to children who needed it for Christmas. I got in touch with him and he agreed to send one of his Cristiano Ronaldo pieces to Arusha. Thank you so much, Dan. It seems like Leboy really liked it!

Cookiegrams a success!

I never wrote about the outstanding success that the cookiegrams ended up being. The Halloween cookies were so well received that we almost had to do a Christmas version. Between the two editions we ended up raising over 6300JPY which at current rates it's about 650 dollars. A total success! Thank you to everyone who bought a cookie. You have no idea how much you have helped.

Special thanks of course to Emiko "Emma" Nagashima, my group manager, who spent countless hours making the cookies. I sincerely could not have done this without her. Arigatougozaimashita. Otsukaresamadeshita!

I was able to convey to Leboy, via Laizer, about what we had managed to do. He wrote a very nice letter thanking Emma for her work. Here's a couple of pictures of Leboy holding a picture of Emma. Thank you to everyone for your support.

End of Standard 4

Another school year ends, and once again Leboy finishes at the top of the class.
Although he only managed to rank 5th this time, it is really encouraging to see that he achieved all As in his subjects.
The unfortunate part of news is that I received a letter from the headmaster saying that the school had suffered a fire earlier in the year. Fortunately none of the students were harmed, and it seems as though reconstruction was generally possible. I remember what amazing resources St Thomas had. I hope they haven't all disappeared.
Let's wish Leboy, and St Thomas School, all the best in Standard 5!!