About Us

 
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Our Story

SEGA Co-Founders Polly Dolan and Blastus Mwizarubi at SEGA in March 2019

SEGA Co-Founders Polly Dolan and Blastus Mwizarubi at SEGA in March 2019

Nurturing Minds and the SEGA Girls’ Secondary School started in 2007 as the dream of two colleagues, one American, Polly Dolan, and one Tanzanian, Blastus Mwizarubi. They wanted to provide an opportunity for marginalized Tanzanian girls to escape poverty and exploitation, and receive a quality education; to empower girls with skills and credentials needed to thrive in Tanzanian society.

Polly had been living and working in Tanzania for 10 years on girls’ empowerment and education issues. Similarly Blastus had many years of experience working in the field of girls’ education, designing and implementing large-scale programs that strengthened teacher capacity; bolstering the role of parents and communities for quality education advocacy; and designing interventions to improve access and quality for girls.

Together they decided that a girls’ boarding school, which provided scholarships to girls, would help them achieve their goals. The two worked with local stakeholders to form Secondary Education for Girls’ Advancement (SEGA) in 2007.

During that time, Polly also reached out to her sister Tracey, and close friends in the US, asking them to help form Nurturing Minds, Inc., a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit to conduct fundraising and provide technical support to the endeavor. Nurturing Minds was founded in 2008 and Tracey devoted herself full-time to developing the organization.

SEGA soon obtained 23 acres of land in Morogoro, and a local Tanzanian family donated an additional 7 acres so that today the school sits on a 30 acre plot. They then launched their first program in a borrowed classroom at a local primary school for 30 girls in July 2008.

Over the past 16 years SEGA and Nurturing Minds have successfully developed the SEGA Girls’ Secondary School which today reaches 290 girls on its beautiful campus with the majority on full scholarship. The campus infrastructure has been funded with extensive financial support from USAID’s American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA).

For a full timeline of the history of Nurturing Minds and SEGA click here.
 

Media and Publications

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SEGA Resources

 

Photos courtesy of Sarah Bones Photography

Our Team

Thank you to our committed staff and volunteers who give their time and efforts to help girls’ dreams become reality! 


Nurturing Minds Staff

Sharon Boateng

Development and Operations Assistant

Jane Celestin

Program Officer and Grant Writer

Laura DeDominicis

Executive Director

Myranda James

Cultural Exchange Coordinator

Matthew Plourde

Finance and Operations Director

Mariame Sano

Communications and Development Associate


SEGA Staff


Nurturing Minds’ Board of Directors

 
 

Nurturing Minds’ Advisors

  • Kavita Ahluwalia

  • Alisha Alexander

  • Marion Ballard

  • Clare Rand Davenport

  • Annie Forsyth

  • Kate Heath

  • Bre Jacobs

  • Mackenzie Laudel

  • Stephanie Loughlin

  • Diana Lindwasser-Couper

  • Ambassador Liberata Mulamula, NM Ambassador

  • Deb Neuman

  • Dr. Vincent Orinda

  • Carmen Portillo

  • Clare Reilly

  • Charlie Richards

  • Susan Schneider

  • Sylvia Shirima

  • Marcia Slingerland

  • Tsion Tesfaye

  • Mavis Walters

  • Diamond Emerald Williams

  • Zakia Williams-Greene

  • Louise Wilson

 


SEGA’s Board of Directors

 
  • Jackie Leonard Bomboma

  • Polly Dolan

  • Christina Kayuki

  • Dr. Elly Ligate

  • Mary Lundu

  • Demetrius Mathias Malopola

  • Oscar Mlowe

  • Dr. Rukia Mchumo

  • Laina John Mwandoloma

  • Hellen Nkalang’ango

 
 

“My dream to visit SEGA finally came to fruition. I was so thrilled and honored to attend the very colourful and entertaining graduation ceremony. The high standards of the school facilities are unmatched in the country. I was so impressed by the girls outstanding and unprecedented academic achievements especially given their very poor backgrounds…"
- Ambassador. Liberata Mulamula

 
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Generous Support

Friends