The School of St Jude is coming to you! Meet Gemma and some of our amazing graduates at your school, church, Rotary Club… or even in your very own living room.
St Jude’s is bringing Tanzania to you this year with The St Jude’s Special. On Thursday, 29 April at 9 am AEST, you’ll be able to view an exciting and inspirational show, which will be live for just 96 hours.
Usually, at this time of year, Founder, Gemma Sisia, along with a St Jude’s graduate ambassador, would be making their way around Australia to connect with supporters and share the news about St Jude’s. This year, Gemma, two extraordinary graduates, Ester and Victor, and some of our previous ambassadors will be making their way to your screens, wherever in the world, you are.
Ester and Victor will be telling their stories in their own words, and while they tell them best, we’d like to introduce them to you today!
Both Ester and Victor are St Jude’s Form 6 graduates from the Class of 2020, and commenced at St Jude’s in primary school. They’re excited to connect with the supporters who have made their education possible and continue to support them as they embark on their lives after school.
Victor and Ester are now midway through their Community Service Year (CSY) during which they are volunteering as teachers in local government schools. The CSY is part of the Beyond St Jude’s (BSJ) Program, where participants spend one year giving back to the community before commencing further studies. Victor explains, “I am in a government school voluntarily teaching physics to Form 2 and Form 3. There are about 40 to 60 students in a class… two to three times as many as at St Jude’s.”
Ester is also teaching in a government school, where she teaches Civics to Form 1 students, about 300 in total. She’s been looking forward to her CSY for a long time and loves that she can make a difference in her community.
“My brother and sister graduated from this school. There are good students here, but they lack resources… I wish sometimes I could have another year here!”
While the show doesn’t require air travel or changing time zones like the usual tour, it will still put the graduates’ public speaking skills to the test as they share their stories with you, our international supporters.
“At first, I was very nervous about it,” says Victor, “But then I remembered that I am a teacher and I am always speaking to students. So I imagine that everyone watching is a student and then I can do it.”
Ester too is ready to speak to St Jude’s supporters from around the world. But she wasn’t always so confident. “My family were surprised when I told them about this. My mum was like, ‘Are you going to be able to do this? You’re very shy,’” she laughs, before continuing.
“I want to say to people; St Jude’s taught me how to live, how to be confident. I want to say to supporters; don’t stop what you’re doing, even though you’re far away. You are changing the lives of thousands of people here in Tanzania.”
You’ll love meeting Ester and Victor and hearing their stories.
There’ll be some familiar faces at The St Jude’s Special too. When you join the event, you’ll get to reconnect with 2020 Ambassador, Judith, 2019 Ambassador, Godwin, 2017 Ambassador, Winrose and 2016 Ambassador, Dorice. For those of you who met these ambassadors on previous tours, there’s a lot of exciting news to catch up on!
Victor and Ester will lead an engaging conversation with each of the past graduates so you can get to know them even better – and they already have their questions prepared!
“I’m really excited to see them,” exclaims Victor. “I have lots of questions, like what are their experiences of moving to another country to study?”
Of course, the show is your chance to hear from Gemma about how St Jude’s began and the school’s progress over the last 12 months. A passionate presenter with an inspiring story to tell, Gemma loves to speak about St Jude’s, and new and returning supporters will be captivated.
If you can have gatherings where you live, why not make an event of it? If events aren’t possible (or a cosy night on the couch sounds more appealing) you can easily watch at home. However you choose to view The St Jude’s Special, one thing is certain; you don’t want to miss it!
If you’d like to catch up with Gemma, Ester, Victor and St Jude’s ambassadors from past years, be sure to sign up at the link below. The link will be available for 96 hours, from Thursday 29 April at 9 am AEST to Monday 3 May at 9 am AEST. Or, if you’re in the US the link will be available from Wednesday 28 April at 3 pm PDT to Sunday 2 May at 10 pm PDT.
This morning, you can sense the nerves and excitement as hundreds of government school students arrive and take their place in long lines of their peers. Some, who live very far away, even arrived yesterday evening, and spent the night at St Jude’s Boarding Campus.
They came by bus, motorbike and even on foot; some travelled for up to 12 hours from Arusha, Manyara and Kilimanjaro regions. They all made the journey for one reason; to sit our academic examinations in the hope of receiving an A Level secondary academic scholarship to St Jude’s.
In Tanzania, there are only around 600 A Level secondary schools compared to over 17,000 primary schools, so places are highly sought after. In particular, the competition for St Jude’s scholarships is strong, as they give students a chance to receive a quality education, completely free of charge. Our selection process, based on academic results, poverty and school values allows us to identify the brightest, poorest students, in line with our mission.
For many of these students, today will be the beginning of an exciting journey. Form 5 is the final St Jude’s entry point; the last stage at which government school students can join the school to receive a free, quality education. In Tanzania, Form 5 is the second last year of secondary school and marks the beginning of Advanced (A Level) studies.
St Jude’s Student Selection Process begins with an invitation to attend a Student Selection Day. Today’s students were invited following an exceptional performance in Tanzania’s Form 4 National Examinations in physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics.
“We take the results from NECTA (Tanzania’s National Exam Authority) for the combinations we want. Then we invite them by writing letters to their headmasters and the students are informed that they are invited to the exams at our school,” explains Happiness.
After their arrival and registration, the students proceed into the school for a fortifying cup of tea and a scone. Then, it’s time for an introduction by Mr Mcharo, Academic Manager, and before the students know it, the exams begin. Today, students are sitting down to three, one-hour exams.
As they finish each exam, it is relayed to an efficient team of teachers who mark it and pass it on to staff who enter each score into a database, then file it under each student’s name. After three hours, the students hear the command, “Pencils down,” and know that the hardest part of the day is over.
In the midst of all this marking and filing is Happiness… “What we are doing today is filing all the exams, and all the information about each student. Each student writes where they come from, where they go to school, how many kilometres from their home to a bus stop. And all that information and their exams go in one file,” says a busy Happiness.
In a remarkably short time, thanks to the hard work and organisation of staff, like Happiness, the exams are marked and the scores collated. The students who have achieved the required exam mark are notified, and move onto the next stage, when a small army of St Jude’s staff reviews their documents to confirm their age, grades and identity.
Soon, this stage is complete, and approximately 200 students are one step closer to an A Level academic scholarship at St Jude’s. In the coming weeks, St Jude’s staff will visit their homes to assess their living situations. Those who show the greatest need during House Checks will then be offered a scholarship to receive free, quality education at St Jude’s.
This afternoon, as they prepare to return home, the students are tentatively excited. They know the value of a St Jude’s scholarship, and the transformation it could bring to their lives, and that of their families.
While Form 5 is the last point at which a student can enter St Jude’s, it’s an incredibly important entry point. The last two years of secondary education are crucial for students who wish to pursue higher education. At the same time, as students grow older, the pressure to leave school and work to help support their families increases. An A Level scholarship to St Jude’s can help break this cycle and allow students to finish their secondary education. Following this, the opportunities only increase; many St Jude’s Form 6 graduates proceed to higher education with the support of the Beyond St Jude’s Program.
Form 5 Student Selection Day for 2021 has been busy for staff and prospective students alike, but it’s another important step in St Jude’s journey in fighting poverty through education.
Laughs, smiles and chatter filled the Dining Hall at St Jude’s Girls’ Secondary School on October 10, 2020. St Jude’s farewelled the first class of O Level leavers from our girls’ secondary school. Completing Form 4, the equivalent of completing Grade 10, is an educational milestone for students in Tanzania.
Indeed, being the first girls’ secondary school Form 4 Celebration and Awards Day, it was a major milestone for The School of St Jude. St Jude’s Girls’ Secondary School opened in January 2020, enriching our whole school community and enabling free, high quality education for even more Tanzanian females.
Among the grinning girls was Agness, who was thrilled to have reached this important stage of her educational journey.
“Today I’m hoping to win a few awards in Biology and also receive a Leader’s Certificate.” Agness smiled.
“After my O Level exams, I’ll use my time to volunteer. Teaching is my passion and I would like to come back and help to teach my young peers. I would like to help them with chemistry and biology.”
“Being selected at St Jude’s has been a blessing and my experience here has been amazing. I got to meet and be friends with a lot of other students. I was exposed to a lot of things such as activities and I went up the student rank and became a level coordinator for the Form 4 students,” Agness shared.
Agness’ mother was ecstatic about her daughter’s completion of Form 4. “I’m so happy... My wish for my daughter is one day for her to become a great leader.”
Also beaming with pride was Mr Elimringi, Headmaster for St Jude’s Girls’ Secondary School. “Today I’m so glad. It’s been a long journey to reach this day and we’ve been anticipating and dreaming about this since the school opened. The celebration is important, but we also expect and encourage our students to perform very well in their upcoming national examinations,” he said.
“Our job is to make sure we are raising our girls so that we can have very strong women leaders in this country and raise the number of students that are going to focus on science subjects.”
“We want our female students to healthily compete with male students. I would also like to help the community understand that St Jude’s gives opportunities to all students regardless of individual differences,” Elimringi reassured.
So, what’s next for our Form 4 students? Soon, they’ll sit exams. National examinations take place annually with strict supervision from the Tanzania National Board of Examinations under the Ministry of Education. These exams can determine whether a student is eligible to proceed to their next level of education; students sit these exams in Standard 4, Standard 7, Form 2, Form 4 and Form 6.
Margaret, grandmother to Hilda, one of our exceptional Form 4s, excitedly recalled Hilda’s Student Selection process – it’s still a raw memory, even though more than 10 years have passed!
“I remember the first Selection day, it was tough but I was hopeful that Hilda would get an opportunity to study at St Jude’s… but this is only the first step, she still has a long journey ahead of her.”
Hilda has chosen to study business subjects. She’s looking forward to a bright future, helping to improve her community during her study break after exams.
“I’m so excited and feeling fantastic. I will be spending my time volunteering. I would like to teach. But I will also try and get a job so I can support my family during this time,” Hilda said.
Form 4 Celebration and Awards Day is a huge step forward for our students. Completing Form 4 means they are closer to realising their dreams. For their parents and guardians, most of whom didn’t have the chance to attend secondary school, this is a major step in fighting poverty through education.
Our Form 4 male students at Smith Campus will be having their Celebration and Awards Day on November 7 this year.
What would you do to challenge yourself for The School of St Jude?
The school launched the ‘Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s’ campaign in early October, encouraging individuals, families, schools, universities, clubs and different organisations to take on a challenge. The aim is to fundraise for St Jude’s and help the school continue to educate and light the way to a brighter future for underprivileged, bright students in Tanzania.
‘Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s’ is about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and fighting poverty through education. Keep reading to see how our whole community has risen to the challenge…
Alumni showing support
One of our amazing alumni, David (Class of 2019), challenged himself to a 42.2km bicycle ride from Sisia Campus to Smith Campus on October 18!
“I got free, quality education from St Jude's and I would love to see many other students receiving the same education that will change their lives. This is the main reason I am taking the challenge for St Jude's. I want to raise as much money as possible for the school.”
David hopes his challenge will inspire other students and St Jude’s alumni to support the school and help the school to continue fighting poverty through education.
You can donate to David’s challenge or register your personal challenge via the school’s website; https://www.schoolofstjude.org/challenge/
Students reading to raise funds
St Jude’s students have committed to read to challenge themselves for St Jude’s. Through the read-a-thon challenge, students aim to read 10 books by the end of the year, inspiring you, our family of international supporters to donate AU$10 per book to their challenge!
Support the read-a-thon challenge by registering or donating to the power of 10 today:
http://bit.ly/SoSJ-CY
Staff individual challenges
St Jude’s staff from different departments took on a variety of quirky challenges to support the cause.
The Sponsor Relations team involved others by providing spoons to all our business office staff. In a challenge called ‘Spoon Your Table’, staff could donate AU$1 for every spoon.
Irene, a member of the Supporter Relations team registered her challenge as an individual. She and her colleague, Rosemary, washed sports shoes for staff to help raise funds for the school. For every pair of shoes washed, AU$1 was raised for St Jude’s.
Anyone can create their own special, unique ‘Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s’ activity, big or small and inspire others to be part of the campaign.
Supporters across the globe have joined the challenge!
Noela, a St Jude’s long-term supporter, challenged herself to a 10km walk. Through her walk, she’s raised AU$2,000 so far.
“The real challenge is rising with an alarm at 4:45am to walk before the Brisbane heat kicks in,” Noela said.
Noela plans to walk daily to continue to raise funds and support the challenge - wearing a St Jude’s sticker attached at her shirt especially made for the cause!
“The St Jude’s sticker attached to my shirt by what I call a, ‘puppy dog’ clip, all adds to the experience!”
Also participating in Challenge Week is Rebecca, a supporter from Sydney, Australia. She has challenged herself to raise funds for St Jude’s by running a marathon that was broken up over 7 days. She’s run 18km so far.
You too can participate in a personal challenge like Noela and Rebecca to Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s. Donate today or register here to Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s: http://bit.ly/SoSJ-CY
Family Trivia
Charity begins at home and to kick off Challenge Week, St Jude’s staff leaders and their families participated in a fun and games afternoon bringing together diverse staff and their families to raise money for the school. There were tough trivia questions, and there was also an Uno tournament and a limbo competition.
Why not host your own trivia event by purchasing a trivia pack from our website or host a games day with family and friends, charging everyone AU$10 to participate? You can make your event COVID-safe by hosting a virtual trivia event.
Over 75% of school-aged children in Tanzania are destined to a life of poverty, living on less than AU$4.60 a day because they don’t have an education. Since 2002, The School of St Jude has been fighting poverty by providing the highest quality, free education for the country’s poorest, brightest students.
This would’ve not been possible without the help of St Jude’s supporters. Donors and sponsors have made it possible for the school to provide boarding for more than 80% of students, one million nutritious meals, school uniforms and health checks.
The School of St Jude has launched the St Jude’s Community Challenge to raise vital funds. This Australia-wide fundraising campaign invites individuals, families, schools, businesses and clubs to take part. There’s no limit to what you can do to challenge yourself; from running, walking and cycling to reading books, doing house chores and holding trivia challenges. So get creative!
St Jude’s Community Challenge falls during Children’s Week - 24 October to 1 November - St Jude’s Day is 28 October.
Share, donate and register here today to Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s to help fight poverty in Tanzania!
Maryanne began making masks when COVID-19 started to spread around Australia and generously used this initiative to fundraise for St Jude’s. Through her fundraising efforts, she raised $4,000, donating the proceeds towards ‘Feed a class for a year’ and ‘Support student welfare for a year.’
Maryanne was also part of the Health Check Team (HCT) in early February this year and returned to Australia just before countries started closing their borders. The HCT is a group of international medical specialists who volunteered for two weeks at the beginning of this year to conduct annual health checks for St Jude’s students.
“I started making masks for my family and friends and also put out the offer to everyone that was in the HCT. This kept me busy posting them out to all corners of Australia. As things got more serious in Australia, the requests from friends to buy them from me built. I didn’t feel comfortable profiting from my friends so I decided I would sell them with the profits going to The School of St Jude.”
Through a family member, Maryanne’s masks have been sold to staff and families in the Australian Parliament with members wearing them to Parliament House.
“I would like to thank Caroline Hall and Karenne Michaelides, who are both HCT Volunteers and sponsors of St Jude’s students’ academic scholarship. They have been a great help with support on the back end.”
To support Maryanne’s ‘St Jude’s Mask Charity’, email her at StJudeMaskCharity@gmail.com.
Not only have they been supporters for the past six years, but they went further earlier last year TechnologyOne officially partnered with St Jude’s to provide IT technology that has transformed the school’s operational processes. The company’s employees raised an additional $10,000 that went towards ‘Funding the salary of one of the IT teachers for an entire year.’
“TechnologyOne has enabled our Managers to now see real-time transactions which means that they no longer wait until the following month to keep track of their expenditure. We have also just rolled out the Enterprise Budgeting Module. This brings an enormous change to the budget process which has had to be completed in numerous spreadsheets in the past,” Finance Manager, Johnbosco Heshima.
Adding to the same sentiments, Beyond St Jude’s (BSJ) Manager, Vivian said, “TechnologyOne has been a lifesaver, quite literally! Since the BSJ program started in 2015, we have solely depended on excel sheets for all data recording and facilitation of payments of stipends and scholarship amounts in general. While excel sheets are still great, everything is so manual, allowing a big room for error and it can be time-consuming. Thanks to TechnologyOne, all my records are accurately systemised. It is also quite centralised, allowing me to find everything about a BSJ Scholar in a few clicks! Budgeting and forecasting are also being made easy and fun to track. Thanks to Kelly and the entire TechnologyOne team, BSJ’s life has been made a whole lot easier.”
Located in Australia, TechnologyOne is a successful tech company with a heart. Their Foundation is committed to help 500,000 children out of poverty.
Andrew is gearing up to challenge himself for St Jude’s by riding Red Hill in Canberra 41 times this October. In supporting and raising funds for St Jude’s, Andrew has previously cycled alone and unsupported across Tanzania covering a distance of about 1600km.
“I was planning to come back to Tanzania in 2021 for the next great ride, but due to COVID-19 travel restrictions that is not going to happen now. As a substitute, I'm planning to ride up Red Hill in Canberra 41 times on 17 October. That will equal the elevation gain of going up Mount Kilimanjaro – unfortunately, it won't be quite the same experience as the real thing, but I will be thinking of St Jude's on the day.”
To support Andrew’s challenge for St Jude’s, visit here
You too can take a cycling challenge or physical challenge this October and raise funds for St Jude’s. REGISTER your challenge here
Andie Lowe, a long-time supporter of The School of St Jude organised a ‘Distance Dinner for St Jude’s’ intending to raise $10,000. Amazingly, Andie has already made $10,000 reaching her set target, but she has high hopes to raise even more funds.
Andie is selling dinner boxes via her website. “Everyone who purchases a dinner box will sit down on 18 October to enjoy an African inspired dinner. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we can’t all enjoy dining together, so this is a way to feel connected, from a distance! ” she explained.
She added, “I hope to have the support of Methodist Ladies' College (MLC) teachers, students and broader connections to participate. I’ll be connecting with people through social media and reaching out to friends, family and my parents and work colleagues.”
Andie visited St Jude’s last year on a school trip with MLC, thus igniting her passion to fundraise for the school when she returned home.
You too can support Andie to raise funds for St Jude’s. Click to visit her website and purchase a dinner box;
A massive thank you for all the super supporters of St Jude’s. The school couldn’t do it without the incredible support and advocacy from people like you.
Judith stands confidently before two of her trusted peers in the Visitor Centre at The School of St Jude. It’s rehearsal day for St Jude’s 2020 Australian promotional tour and Judith’s been handpicked by ‘Mama Gemma’ Sisia, St Jude’s School Founder, to accompany her on her upcoming trip Down Under.
In front of some of her peers, Judith practices telling her tale of triumph. It’s a tale that’s well-known to those in the room and will soon be shared with people across Australia. It’s the tale of how St Jude’s transforms lives.
Judith is preparing for the journey of a lifetime. This month, she is boarding her very first flight, bound for Australia. There she will meet incredible Australian supporters, who have built the school she loves – the place she calls her home – from scratch.
“When Gemma invited me to join her and help to spread the word about our school, I was so excited! I just couldn’t believe it was me going there!” Judith enthuses.
“The culture in Tanzania is very different from Australian culture. I will try to learn the differences between here and there, and I will love learning about a new part of the world.”
“Of course, I know that we share a great love for St Jude’s, so I know I will love everyone I meet!” she says.
Judith started in Standard 1 at St Jude’s and is now getting ready for university. She has benefitted from 13 years of 100% free, quality education and she believes it’s made the world of difference to her.
“Joining St Jude’s changed my life so much. I’m happy and grateful to meet our supporters. I came from a humble family and the sponsors and donors are the ones who enabled me to go to one of the best schools in Tanzania!” she shares.
“It was this golden chance that opened the door and helped me to realise that poverty could not hinder my success forever.”
While it’s been a challenging year for so many members of our international family, Judith hopes she will bring a story of joy to the people who gifted her with an education.
“I know that so many people in Australia are suffering right now, and it pains my heart. I hope Gemma and I can bring some smiles to their faces, because they really deserve to be happy.”
Would you like to hear more about Judith’s remarkable journey? Be sure to attend a public tour event in a town near you!
