Women's Global Connection, San Antonio, Texas

Tere Dresner-Salinas, Executive Director of Women's Global Connection, and Sr. Dorothy Ettling, WGC Founder, initially met with SHARE Board members in February 2010, and again in May in San Antonio, Texas, to share information about working with women in Bukoba, Tanzania, and to pursue potential collaboration.  The mission of Women’s Global Connection, http://wgc.womensglobalconnection.org, is to promote the learning and leadership capacity of women locally and globally, particularly in the least advantaged regions and countries. 

Click "read more" to learn about the exciting WGC / SHARE partnership benefiting the Hekima Girls School.....

WGC Partners with SHARE TO Benefit Hekima School in Tanzania

A key component of WGC's success over the years is its ability to collaborate with other organizations having similar goals.  A recent partnership with SHARE, a U.S. based non-profit founded by

·  Shannon McNamara, resulted in a brand new library and a new dining hall where the Hekima students can enjoy their meals in comfort.  Previously, the girls had to stand or eat outdoors.  Dorice Titus, Joritha Shumbusho and Flavia Rwegosha expressed their gratitude for these wonderful additions to their school:

"As you already know, we have experienced some setbacks, one of them being a good eating place.  You have been here several times and you know the way we were eating outside or standing clustered together in the small hall, sometimes outspaced by sacks of grain.  But due to your efforts and kindness. . . .we are able to read a lot of books, getting more information from the internet and maintaining general cleanliness around our school  We Hekima girls are very happy to take this opportunity to thank you for what you are doing for our school. . . .We have become fully aware of our potentialities and abilities."

Women’s Global Connection's vision is to build a social network where women can strengthen their capacity to create a more just global community.

Hekima Secondary School in Bukoba, Tanzania offers nearly 500 rural girls the opportunity to finish secondary school and prepare for higher education. The girls reside and staff the entire school complex from operating a farm to cooking and cleaning while they study, so that they can have access to this important step in shaping their life and their country.

Since 2003, WGC has worked collaboratively with the teachers and students at Hekima in professional development and leadership training. The teachers and students have worked extremely hard to improve their academic standing, achieving 6th place in their Zone of almost 200 schools.

Yet like many other girls in the country, most of them are performing poorly in Mathematics in the national examinations. This fact presents a real crisis for their future possibilities both educationally and professionally. Without passing Mathematics scores, entrance to higher education will be practically inaccessible within the next few years. WGC is collaborating with Hekima to address the major Math learning problem with the development of a Mathematics Learning Center that will provide assistance to students, Hekima teachers and the teachers of surrounding schools.