Many people know about Montessori from the prestigious preschools/nurseries in America. Here, they are just as important and well known. In Mwanza, “The Rock City,” there is a Montessori Training Center that educates men and women in how to implement these particular styles of teaching. There is a program for future workers of child care centers, such as an orphanage, nurseries, and Montessori Preschools. We have sent our first college bound resident of Angel House to this Montessori Training Center.
Sarah Sabai began at Angel House in 2005, she was only 12 years old. Her story is very similar to Cinderella. Her mother was sick for a very long time until she passed away and then her father died shortly afterwards. The Cinderella part is that they were living with her father’s second wife when he passed. He had left all of his property, and he was quite wealthy, to Sarah but the stepmother took it all and none of it ended up with Sarah. She was sent to Angel House as an orphan because her stepmother no longer wanted to care for her. Sarah was of the first class of Angels to graduate from secondary school in December 2009. This past year she studied in Dar es Salaam to retake her National Form Four Exam to get a better grade. Unfortunately, the school forgot to register her and she studied for an entire year without the chance to retake the exam.
In January, Eric began career counseling with some of the older kids and found out that Sarah wants to run a Children’s Home one day. So, he did some research and found this school in Mwanza. After a month of working on getting her into the school Sarah and I went to move her in. It was a wonderful experience as she prepared to say good bye to the 47 brothers and sisters at Angel House. She had become a “mother” to many of the younger ones and a best friend to the others. Once in Mwanza, we did the last minute school supply shopping and got our hair “did.” Mine turned out absolutely hideous but the point was for her to enjoy it.
We are excited to see where she will go next. She is enrolled in a two year program but the possibilities for her future have more than tripled. Thank you to those that made her education throughout secondary school possible. And thank you to those that are now making her college education possible. She will be a changed woman and this project has taken a new step into the realm of possibilities for all the children of Angel House.
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