Sr. Esther Buberwa, Headmistress of the Hekima Girls' Secondary School in Bukoba, Tanzania, prepared the following information on the her school, the site of SHARE's 4th library in Africa:

ORGANIZATION:

Although the Hekima Girls' School was founded and is run by nuns, it takes girls from all religions and denominations from almost all over Tanzania.  It is officially registered by and also run according to the set-up, rules, and directives of the Ministry of Education and Culture with a manager, school board, and elected student bodies.  It is closely supervised by the government Zonal Inspectorate of Schools.

HISTORY:

In 1928 missionaries (the White Sisters) started a middle school at Kamkukubwa.  The school, being an exemplary all girls’ boarding school at that time, attracted many young women.  In the 1960’s Kamkukubwa, like most missionary schools, was nationalized.  Under special request and apparent growing need, it was later handed to the Kagera Co-operative Union who started a co-education private secondary school under the name of Kashozi Secondary School.  In 1988 Kashozi was handed back to the Catholic Church, and Hekima was formally established as the only all-girls private secondary school in the region.

UNIQUENESS:

Traditionally African women have been stereotyped as assuming a future of limited choices.  African culture provides females with less educational opportunities than males, thus creating an atmosphere of inferiority.  Once they have completed primary education, few girls find themselves in a position to enroll in secondary schools.  This is due to the low availability of all-girls’ secondary schools (government and private), when compared to the number of all-boys’ schools and male dominated co-educational schools within the nation.

The Theresian Sisters recognized the potential in reclaiming the school with the purpose of providing quality education to young women in order to emancipate them culturally, socially, economically, and spiritually. This will enable them to develop their talents, gain confidence as individuals, and have a positive impact on society.

Hekima is the only all-girls private secondary school in this region.  There is only one government all-girls school, which takes students from several regions.  Moreover, Hekima is one of the few schools that cares to enrich her students with well-balanced social ethics and spiritual and academic rigor.  That is why it has deliberately enrolled orphans not only as a way of providing them shelter and teaching them self-reliance, but also as a means of teaching their fellows how to work with and help such unlucky individuals in our society. 

Currently we have over 50 orphans who make up a fifth of the whole student body.  This number is increasing every year due to the increased number of HIV/AIDS victims.

SELF-HELP PROJECT:

Due to a good number of students coming from very poor families and others being orphans and, thus, unable to pay, the school works hard to make ends meet. The current cost of tuition is equivalent to about $445 per year.  The school cannot currently raise it any higher because even this fee, although it can be paid in two halves, is difficult for the families of our students to pay.  So as both a lesson for the future to students and as a supportive measure, the school is trying hard to have as many self-reliance projects as possible.  Nevertheless, some of them lack expertise, running capital, and good markets.

ENVIRONMENT:

We are strategically located in an environment conducive to education.  We are not very near the regional town, but we are not so far that basic needs are inaccessible.  As the school was built in the early 1900’s, most of the structures are very old.  Moreover, they were built using natural materials like stones, bricks, and tiles with soil as mortar.  Ever since it was handed back, we have tried to often renovate it and even erect some new structures.  Along with structural renovations, we have tried to adorn it with nice grass lawns, trees, and tidy paths, surrounded by pretty flowers.  The modern landscaping, combined with quaint turn-of-the-century architecture, give Hekima its own unique look and feel.

We have good access to tap water, which is connected to school gravity water and few waterharvesting tanks; currently we are working on possibilities that can provide our students with clean and safe water.  We have some electricity from Uganda, our neighbor to the north, although it is not very consistent.  There is enough land for athletic, agricultural, and structural extension.  Recently the school started a fencing project to protect its boundaries which are clearly demarcated, and security is satisfactory.

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE:

Apart from its afore-mentioned unique qualities, Hekima has highly impressed parents and students with its continuing, steady progress in academic achievement.  This has instigated an enormous number of applications most of which, however, are turned down due to insufficiency of facilities.  That notwithstanding, we are striving even harder to use every possible means to improve all facets of academic life, including staff, books, teaching methods and aids, and laboratory equipment and apparatus.

As an aid to people from surrounding communities, we seasonally organize some afternoon workshops on literacy, nutrition, hygiene, environmental management, and communicative language skills in Kiswahili, English and Computer literacy classes. 

Sr. Esther Buberwa, Headmistress, Hekima Girls' Secondary School, Bukoba, 2010

School Song