In 2015, Assumption Sister Schola was invited by her Order to become Project Manager for a new girls' secondary school to be constructed just outside Singida in Tanzania. This would be a much more challenging task than the school whose construction she had supervised near Moshi. The location was in the dry heart of the country, the land was barren, wind-swept with little vegetation and few trees.

Once again, SHOCC was invited to be part of the story. When trustees Elizabeth Byrne Hill and Kevin Cook visited in 2017, they found the perimeter being fenced, a borehole had been sunk providing clean, fresh water in excellent quantities and a water tower was under construction.

When Kevin Cook visited again in October 2022, the site had been transformed. Despite the problems caused by the Covid pandemic, Sister Schola and her team had completed the construction of two large four-classroom blocks and had finished most of the work on the toilets and the science laboratories. A septic tank had been constructed with an ingenious waste-water soak away and over 300 indigenous trees had been planted. In addition, Sister Schola had constructed three fish tanks to raise funds to pay the resident watchmen who lived on site.

Following a successful inspection by the Ministry of Education in 2023, Mother Marie Eugenie Milleret Girls’ School, was granted permission to open to its first 90 pupils in January 2024. Today, in October 2024, pre-form 1 pupils have arrived to join those already studying at the school. The classrooms and dormitories are in use and the girls have planted and water rows of cassava, spinach, and kale on the 'wind-swept' campus. Rabbits, chickens, and fish from the school ponds also help to supplement the school meals.

The arrival of the new intake means that extra resources are required. This SHOCC campaign seeks to raise the funds needed to provide each of the 90 girls with a bed, table, chair and essential books. We estimate the total cost of these items at around £100 per pupil giving an overall target of £9,000. With your help, we can raise this urgently needed funding.

SHOCC is delighted with the progress of this new school and will continue to offer its support in the future.

Many thanks for your support.