In 2010, Susie Rheault and Gil Williams were hiking through the small rural village of Nshupu, Tanzania, and discovered a home for orphans and abandoned children. Inside nine children were sleeping on a cement floor. At the time, the sole support of these children was a grassroots initiative of a local church. A couple of local Nshupu primary school teachers were taking care of them. Sarah and William Modest (who lost his own mother to AIDS), left their secure jobs to follow their hearts to care for these children.

Though the lack of education is a leading cause of poverty, Tanzanian schools are not free. Attendance, even at the primary school level, requires the ability to pay for school fees, uniforms, meals, books, school supplies, and other expenses. With approximately 87% of rural Tanzanians living on less than one US dollar per day, most families are unable to cover these costs and send their children to school.

When Precious Leaders Secondary School (PLSS) reaches its full capacity, it will offer six years of secondary education to up to 550 students. One important goal for the school is to serve children from the poorest families as access to a quality education is an important contributor to poverty reduction. Precious plans to support 50% of its student body under full sponsorship, with another 25% receiving partial tuition support. Another significant objective is to recruit and retain girls by providing them a safe and supportive learning environment.

Despite Tanzania’s commendable efforts to increase education funding to provide primary schooling for all, the quality of education remains among the lowest in Africa. Among the factors are inadequate teacher training and learning materials, and an education system that uses decades old methods focused on rural life skills and passive learning, rather than academics, creativity, independent learning, and critical thinking in areas such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math).

Our farm produces nutritious foods for the Precious Orphans Children’s Home and the Precious English Medium Primary School. The sale of excess crops provides additional income to support our projects. By modeling organic and sustainable agricultural practices and holding workshops, local farmers learn to increase productivity and reduce costs of their own farms.

In Tanzania, women are among the poorest in their nation, despite serving an important role in their rural economy. Tanzanian women farm, sell fruits and vegetables, transport heavy loads of water and firewood, and provide the necessities and care for their family. It is not uncommon to meet women who raise families in the absence of a man. Many men labor away from home, have other families, or never return for financial or health reasons.