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Copy of Julie Lees’s email to Mr. Dunford Makala
Commissioner for Social Welfare, Tanzania
20th August 2011
Dear Sir,
My name is Julie Lees and I am a qualified teacher in a primary school educating 210 children aged between 4 and 11 years old in England. Over the past 4 years I have been privileged to work with three Tanzanian students from the Bethany Family Orphanage in Magu, Tanzania. The students; Jesca James Paulo, Emmakulatha Bujiku and Minza Onesmo have undertaken part of their studies in my school in various year groups observing qualified teachers and also practising the teaching skills they are learning in a school setting.
The three aforementioned students have worked alongside various qualified teachers, gaining a wealth of first-hand experience in the school setting….teaching methods and strategies, behaviour management strategies, assessment procedures, target-setting and report-writing to name but a few of the skills required to be an excellent teacher.
I have found all three girls to be extremely pleasant, polite, enthusiastic, motivated and eager to increase and develop their skills and strategies in order to become excellent teachers when they return to Tanzania to educate the local children.
The education the students are receiving in England is of a very high standard. I have a degree in psychology, a post-graduate certificate in education and I am currently studying for a further post-graduate certificate to become a specialist teacher as part of my teaching position. I have attended three different universities to complete my qualifications and I can say with confidence that the standard of education that the Tanzanian students are receiving here in the UK is amongst the very best available in the world.
It is therefore to my dismay and sadness that I have heard that a further three students from the Bethany Orphanage, Deborah, Mpelwa and Rehema are being denied the opportunity to come to England to complete the same high-quality courses in education.
I know –and have been assured directly by the students themselves- that the current and previous students have shared and enjoyed a happy and comfortable home with Graham and Sheila Pountain. They have all of their personal and educational resources provided for them, they are provided with good food, clothes and transport to and from college/ school placements, they receive any required medical attention immediately from a doctor and they receive extra tuition from qualified teachers in addition to that provided by the college.
Perhaps, most importantly, whilst benefiting from all of this, the girls continue to uphold their wonderful Tanzania culture, sharing this with the people around them and the children in their school settings. As well as the Tanzanian students receiving a top-quality education, they, too, provide a fantastic education to the English children about Tanzanian practises and culture. Indeed, the students are truly marvellous ambassadors for Tanzania.
On speaking to the students who are currently in England, their enthusiasm to complete their courses and return to Tanzania to educate the children in their community to a high standard is overwhelmingly clear.
Thank you for reading this letter. I do hope you will consider what I have said and that you will support Deborah, Mpelwa and Rehema by allowing them the opportunity of a top-quality education in England so that they may return to Tanzania and enrich the community in which they will live and work.
Yours faithfully,
Julie Lees BSc (Hons), PGCE
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