Press Release
The Hassan Maajar Trust -to help end the
shortage of school desks in the country
Dar es Salaam Monday, 11th July 2011: Today, The First Lady Mama Salma Kikwete launched a local non-profit
organization, the Hassan Maajar Trust (“HMT”), whose aim is to initiate a
massive campaign to raise, from the public, TZS 3 billion in the next two to
three years, to be applied towards the purchase of school desks for public
primary and secondary schools in order to improve the learning environment and
eventually improve the quality of education in Tanzania.
Launching the Hassan
Maajar Trust Brand, the First Lady said that the objectives of the
Trust are timely as “it is the
responsibility of our generation to ensure that never again will our children
sit on the floor in their classrooms”.
Speaking at the press
conference, the Chairperson of HMT, Ambassador
Mwanaidi Maajar, said, “the fundraising
campaign, which is to run under the banner of “A Desk For Every Child” or “Dawati Kwa Kila Mtoto” in Kiswahili,
will be held in Tanzania and in the United States of America. The initial fund
raising event is planned to take place towards the end of this year and the
event will be announced to the public three weeks in advance.”
The Trust has
been named in honour of Hassan Shariff Maajar, who died tragically in a road
accident in Mbabane, Swaziland in 2006. His family and friends founded the
Trust in order to keep alive Hassan’s aspirations, which were to help the
community that he lived in. The Trust is not for profit, non-partisan and
non-religious with the sole purpose of helping to improve the learning
environment in public schools in Tanzania.
The
late Hassan was the son of Mwanaidi Sinare Maajar, the Tanzanian Ambassador to
the USA and her husband Shariff Hassan Maajar. Hassan was nearly 18 years old
when he sadly passed away. He attended school at Waterford Kamhlaba United
World College of Southern Africa in Mbabane, Swaziland.
Hassan was a bright,
vibrant and active young man who had a passion for sports and giving back to
the community. He excelled at basketball and was his school’s basketball team
captain at the time of his untimely demise. For his Social Responsibility Class he used to teach sports at a
school for disabled children in Mbabane. This is what inspired his family and
friends to establish the Trust in his memory.
Statistics from the
Ministry of Education and Vocational Training indicate that there is a deficit
of about three million desks and chairs in our public schools. HMT believes
that this shortage of school desks and chairs adversely affects the performance
of our children.
Ambassador
Maajar said, “It is better to light a candle
instead of complaining about the darkness” and continued that HMT was lighting
a candle as it set out to campaign for ending shortage of school desks in
Tanzania. The Chairperson further said, with the support of the public it would
be possible to afford each child of this country a desk and a chair within two
to three years.
“We
expect that people from all walks of life will, through the HMT start to donate
funds for school desks. The HMT website will be active soon with various
options through which funds may be donated. There will be TV and other media
options for donations and once arrangements are in place the public will be
informed” said the Chairperson in her press release.
People are encouraged to
donate things including clothes, domestic utensils, shoes, and children’s
items, and books, while companies on the other hand, might want to donate items
they make or their services.
HMT has established a
charity shop at the Arcade Building Mikocheni where donated items will be sold
to help pay for administration costs so that all donated funds go directly to
the procurement of desks.
HMT Board has established
a Fundraising Committee, which will be responsible for fundraising and to
ensure that funds collected are remitted to the HMT, designated bank account
and these will be used solely for the procurement of school desks and chairs.
-Ends-
Or contact:
Fredrick
Felix Njoka,
Public
Relations Executive,
Aggrey&Clifford,
Tel:
+255-772-131367
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