St. Pamachius

St. Pamachius Inclusive Secondary School is the only secondary school in Tanzania where students who are cognitively sound, but have other disabilities (e.g., hearing or sight impairment, Albinism, epilepsy, or physical birth defects) can attend school along with typical students. They study and work beside each other, learn from each other, and grow into compassionate young people. This is a perfect way for typical students to learn about those with disabilities and for the those with disabilities to be treated with respect and further their education in order to one day be self-sufficient, contributing members of the Tanzanian society. Until the building of St Pamachius Inclusive Secondary School, this was not possible.

Currently, St Pamachius has 324 students with 126 of these having special physical needs (e.g., blind, deaf, Albinism with low vision, epilepsy, dwarfism, and other birth defects such as missing or deformed limbs). Every student at St Pamachius is cognitively sound and, because St Pamachius is the only inclusive secondary school in the country, can complete secondary school and go on to either vocational training or university.

In the past year, St Pamachius now has acquired a Braille embosser to print out reading material for the blind students, a much needed piece of equipment. The students and staff are most grateful for the donations that provided this.

Little by little, donations of scientific calculators have come in for the students to use for their math and science classes. About 30 more are still needed. These are only $10 on Amazon or Walmart, but have to be carried over by those who go to visit Moshi. With prayers and the generosity of our donors, we hope to obtain more of these inexpensive calculators.

Unfortunately, we still need additional funds to complete several important projects (e.g., two science labs in order to add Advanced Levels (Forms 5 and 6) at $40,000 each; $5,000 to complete the chairs ordered for the six new classrooms constructed last year; 75 new bunkbeds to accommodate the new Form 1 students @ $150 each; finish the dining hall and more).

Any donation, no matter how small, if designated for St Pamachius projects, will help us continue to grow and provide an exceptional education to these very deserving students, some of whom would not be able to attend secondary school anywhere else because schools in Tanzania are not inclusive and the government provides no help for these capable kids. St Pamachius Inclusive secondary school serves as a “flagship” shining example of what Christians can do to make our world a better place for all of us.