The Learning Centre Literacy Lab ~
Tanzania
A grant from WaterBridge Outreach is enabling The Foundation for Tomorrow to establish an innovative Literacy Lab in their new state-of-the-art Learning Centre, a first-of-its-kind community hub in Arusha. The Learning Centre will provide the surrounding community with previously out-of-reach educational, vocational, and entrepreneurial resources.
The Literacy Lab , sponsored by WBO, will support young learners and their families with services that will create a strong foundation for literacy and numeracy development and set these young learners on a clear path to academic success..With a full supply of literacy tools available - workbooks, flashcards, and loaner books in both Kiswahili and English - these new readers will have the resources they need to build their skill set. Support provided both at home and within the Learning Centre will create a continuity of learning to strengthen these learners’ skills.
UPDATE: September 2023
We are thrilled to announce that construction of
The Community Learning Centre is complete and
the dedication ceremony was held with much
fanfare and celebration in June. The Centre is
now open and bringing education to the Arusha
community of all ages no matter where they are
in their educational journey. While the Centre is a
place of learning, TFFT also hopes it will be a
facility that children and adults alike can enjoy
themselves and have fun!
Over the years we have worked with TFFT on
several books + water projects, including
our first Writers for WaterBridge book project
which produced 8,000 booklets in Kiswahili, the
lingua franca of East Africa. The teachers
donated their time to write the texts that tell
stories drawn from day-to-day life in Tanzania, and a local illustrator produced the drawings. The Literacy Lab brings us full circle as books in Kiswahili are a valuable resource there since the Tanzanian government declared that, in order to improve literacy, teaching, reading, and writing in grades 1 through 3 should be taught in Kiswahili only.
The Foundation for Tomorrow recognizes that learning happens at all stages of life and in many different ways, and they continue to evolve and discover how learning can transform lives in the most impactful, sustainable, and pragmatic ways. The Literacy Lab and The Community Learning Centre will empower the community of Arusha and the nation of Tanzania in innovative ways that will make it possible for all to think beyond the confines of what they know. And in doing so, be able to learn, explore, dream big, and take action. WaterBridge is proud to be a part of this very exciting project.