ADS proudly sponsors The School of St. Jude – a charity funded school that provides a free, high-quality primary and secondary education to the poorest and brightest children of Arusha region, Tanzania, East Africa. Here’s their monthly update:

We are so grateful for 25 new sponsors who have stepped forward to provide our students with a free, high – quality education. It is exciting to think of the possibilities that now lie before these students who will start at St Jude’s in January. Imagine how their lives will change! With an education these students, who previously knew only a life of poverty, will have the opportunity to make choices about the life they want to live.

Meet Huseein, a student starting in January. Huseein lives with his mother, father, and two older sisters in a rented two-room mud house in the Unga area of Arusha. They use a car battery to power the few light bulbs in their home and pay 50 shillings (30 cents) for a bucket of water which they collect from the tap at a nearby house. Every morning, they cook breakfast in the corner of one of the rooms over a charcoal fire.

Huseein is lucky to have both of his parents employed. His parents work six days a week making shoes, earning a few dollars a day depending on how many shoes they can sell. His mother does the intricate beadwork for Maasai sandals and his father makes rubber thongs from old tires and sells them on the street corner. The family also has a small plot of land where they grow food to make sure there is always something to eat.

Huseein loves school and was number four in his class of 88 last year. He received near-perfect marks in math, English, and Kiswahili- his favorite subject. When he grows up he wants to be a doctor so he can help people who can’t get help. He is thrilled to start school at St Jude’s and is most looking forward to learning how to speak English.

If you’d like to learn more about St Jude’s, check out their website: schoolofstjude.org