Transforming lives and communities by educating and empowering Tanzanian girls
Notification about the SEGA Girls’ School concerning COVID-19
We are excited to share that Tanzanian schools reopened June 29th! We have worked hard to put protocols in place to keep our students and staff safe as they return to campus. For information on what our response has been throughout the 3 month school closure please CLICK HERE to read a detailed summary or watch our recent webinar by clicking here.
OVER 1,200 GIRLS
Educated and empowered at the SEGA Girls’ School and through continuing education scholarships and community outreach programs per year
Our Blog
January always marks new beginnings and this is especially true at SEGA where they started their new academic year with 69 Form 1 girls on January 11. The new students are excited to be a part of the SEGA sisterhood and are settling in well. Having completed a three-month English Fluency Program on-campus in the fall they are feeling ready to tackle the challenges of learning in English which is for many their third language.
In our rapidly evolving and connected world, computers are often essential for academic success. Some of the many benefits a student receives when provided access to a laptop include the ability to take notes digitally, interact with peers and collaborate on projects, gain access to a broad range of academic research, and use word processing tools to complete their assignments.
SEGA’s English Fluency program was started in 2015 by Nurturing Minds’ founding board member, Sherley Young to help SEGA’s youngest students quickly learn to speak and understand English using a stress-free method of drama, games, music, and activities. The goal of the English Fluency program is for girls to have confidence in speaking and understanding English so they can be successful in secondary school.
Pauline Rusisye is the Education for Life (ELF) Coordinator & School Counselor at SEGA. If you talk to Pauline, you will immediately feel her deep emotional commitment to her work, the girls she serves, and for SEGA, where she has been since January 2011. When asked what people should know about her, she says “I am passionate and a little bit tough. I love to see things happen fairly. I love most and I smile a lot.”
If any further proof is needed about the resiliency of our SEGA students, then look no further than the October 31 graduation ceremony. After five years of concentrated study, from Pre-Form through Form 4, SEGA’s eighth graduating class of 55 students were jubilant at their accomplishment!
When I arrived at SEGA in the fall of 2019, I immediately knew that it was a special place and that I would never experience something just like that again. The Uluguru Mountains reached into the clouds at one end of campus, and the clear sky stretched on forever. The air was sweet, and the ground thrummed rhythmically as the students welcomed me and the other visitors with a boisterous song and dance, orange dust rising into a hazy cloud at their feet.
As a board member of Nurturing Minds, Sherley Young has been making valuable contributions to our organization for many years. In addition to her generous financial contributions, she has introduced many influential and passionate friends to SEGA. Many of these introductions have led to new volunteers and financial support for Nurturing Minds and the school. One such introduction was to Dr. Jean Merrill who, like Sherley, is a Smith College graduate.
Meet Luambano Ahmad, one of the multitasking, hard-working members of the SEGA Girls’ School staff. When he joined SEGA in 2016, his responsibilities were as a Geography and History teacher. It wasn't long, though, before his natural leadership skills were recognized. He was quickly promoted to Assistant Academic Master and then Academic Master. Currently, he has achieved the rank of Deputy Head of School, while still teaching geography.
As students in Tanzania begin to return to school following the government mandated closures due to COVID-19, many of SEGA's 2019 graduating class are arriving at their A-Level programs. We are excited to share this blog from Anne Wells, former advisor to Nurturing Minds and the Founder and Director of Unite the World with Africa Foundation.
In early 2020, 12 SEGA students were selected to receive scholarships from the Unite Scholars & Mentorship Program, which provides comprehensive support for two years of Advanced secondary-level education (A-Levels).
After a three month government mandated closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are thrilled to announce that SEGA welcomed students back to campus on June 29th. According to the Tanzanian government, the situation has improved and schools all across the country reopened at the end of June.
On behalf of the SEGA Girls’ School, the teachers, students, graduates, as well as the Nurturing Minds board and staff, we would like to give a BIG THANK YOU to all of our dedicated donors who rallied to help us respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
About a year ago, Nurturing Minds’ Executive Director Laura DeDominicis called me up to ask if I’d be interested in working with the communications committee to develop a new logo. Nurturing Minds had recently wrapped up its 10th anniversary celebrations, and I had just finished my last year of college and was about to spend three months as a volunteer at SEGA.
"Peggy” is not her real name but her story is real. Peggy’s story is probably very different from yours, especially during this ongoing global pandemic. While most of us are fairly comfortable in our homes with running water, air-conditioning, electricity, access to quality medical care and Wi-Fi so we can communicate and be entertained with several computer devices, Peggy now has none of that back in her village.
When the Tanzanian government announced that all schools had to close, SEGA had about a day to get all the girls home. That meant there was no time to send the girls with any homework. The students live in many regions of Tanzania from 20 miles to 200 miles away from the school. SEGA ensured all the girls made it home safely, including those who had a seven-hour bus ride and a motorcycle ride to get home.
Coronavirus has turned our world and our lives upside-down. Our students at SEGA are feeling these consequences particularly acutely. To help raise funds five of our partner high schools have been busy making a difference. One silver lining of this time is that leaders of all these clubs have connected and are uniting their efforts. Together through their brainstorming and collective fundraising efforts, they are going to make a significant difference for our SEGA students!
As a Peace Corps volunteer, I didn’t know where my 2-year home was going to be until the day before I visited SEGA for the first time. On the seven-hour bus ride from Korogwe (my training town) to Morogoro, I was anxious to see what I had gotten myself into.
January is the start of the academic year in Tanzania. For SEGA, it was the beginning of its 12th academic year. Students returned to class and we learned the exciting news that all of SEGA’s Form IV graduates passed their national exams!
Last year from December 9-13, five lucky Form Two SEGA students had the opportunity to attend EAGLS (East African Girls Leadership Summit). EAGLS is an annual summit in Nairobi that brings together youth and their mentors from throughout East Africa to develop creative leadership and build a strong regional network of empowered women and girls.
Each fall two SEGA students are selected through a competitive application process to participate in the 5-week cultural exchange we call our Study Abroad Program. This year for the first time the two visiting SEGA students, Stella and Caroline, headed to Madison, Wisconsin for the first two weeks of their US adventure to stay with two amazing host families and study English at the Wisconsin English as a Second Language Institute (WESLI).
Your senses are renewed by participating in Nurturing Minds’ annual English Fluency program! Your eyes marvel at the beauty of the students’ genuine, gracious smiles. Your taste buds are delighted when eating sweet mangoes every day. Your nose breathes deeply to take in the scent of the everywhere-blooming flowers. Your ears perk up listening to the girls sing traditional songs. And…your heart feels so much love for the girls it is ready to burst!
The 7th class at SEGA graduated from Form Four on October 29th this year. The sixty-three girls in this class were delighted and proud to reach this very exciting milestone in their education and in their lives after being at SEGA for 4 or 5 years. This year’s graduating class was particularly noteworthy because it was one of the biggest graduating classes from SEGA ever.
It’s planting time at SEGA. This year, 45 Form 1 students are participating in the Planting Science Program. The program is designed to teach girls the scientific method and the building blocks of how to perform a controlled scientific experiment, how to develop hypotheses,and how to determine independent and dependent variables, and set up an experiment.
While delivering a high-quality education, in a safe, nurturing environment, SEGA recognizes that secondary school diplomas are not enough to lift girls out of poverty. SEGA’s Education for Life Program (EFL) is delivered through all five years of its on-campus curriculum and helps build skills and confidence so that SEGA students can go on to higher levels of education, get good paying jobs, and become future leaders in their homes, professions, and communities.
The SEGA Mentorship Program has been in effect since 2011 and is one of the many reasons why SEGA is unlike any other educational institution of its kind. The Program was started by Pauline, a teacher at SEGA. She wanted to find a way to create support systems for students by helping them forge deeper connections. So she came up with the idea to start a mentor program that matched older students with new ones entering SEGA to guide them through the transition into life at their new school.
What is a piece of advice you have for the SEGA girls?
As you search for meaning, know that the journey will not be clear. Be a good student, always look for new opportunities, take chances, and explore many subjects. While doing that, you will find what it is that makes you proud or happy or fulfilled. You will know and understand your strengths and you too will always be happy while making the world a better place for all.
In June, a group of eleven girls and four chaperones from Powerful Beyond Measure (PBM) visited SEGA. PBM educates and empowers underrepresented girls from the San Francisco Bay Area to become leaders in their communities.
What is a piece of advice you have for the SEGA girls?
It’s encouraging to see girls talking highly about themselves and other girls. Often times, society wants us to talk bad about ourselves and not believe in our potential. I’m here to say that it’s awesome to see girls “brag” about themselves and how inspiring their friends are. I want to see more girls be supporting of one another and work together to achieve gender equality.
A small group of fourteen Penn State students volunteered for a trip to SEGA this spring led by Michele Kirsch whose husband is on the board. According to Mitch, the goal of the trip was to “see a place that was advancing girls’ education” and to gain a “sense of appreciation for how this is done, what some of the challenges are, and recognize that there are places in the world that could use our help.” Little did they know how much they would be truly impacted by their time at the school.
What is a piece of advice you have for the SEGA girls?
I would give them the advice that I was given, that you can only get done the things you choose to do. So, make a commitment, decide the things that are important, and strive to do those, but you don’t have to strive to boil the ocean.
“I feel strongly that there is nothing more important than educating and empowering girls to reach their full potential. SEGA gives girls the opportunity not only to learn new skills and further their education but helps them to feel worthy and strong enough to pursue their dreams so they can make a difference in their communities.” – Becky Manley, Student Sponsor
Earlier this month, SEGA’s Education for Life (EFL) department organized a training for all SEGA students from the NGO UMATI, which provides sexual and reproductive health information, education, and services in Tanzania. The training focused on gender-based violence and was a good primer for the three-hour Valentine’s Day celebration the EFL department also organized.