oba
Advance Children With Special Needs

Advance Children With Special Needs

PROJECT

Advancing Children With Special Needs


In Tanzania there are few educational opportunities available for children with disabilities. Many of these children are hidden at home or have been abandoned and live on the streets because of the stigma of disability. In 2001 a teaching specialist named Loitushui Yamat sought to change that by starting a Special Needs Education Unit at the Ilboru School in Arusha, northern Tanzania.

Ilboru provides primary school classes up to Standard 7 (the equivalent of U.S. 7th grade) for students with intellectual and physical disabilities. In addition to regular classes, students are provided with morning snacks and have time to play sports, which help enhance brain development, balance, and coordination. Older students have the opportunity to learn life skills such as sewing, which will also help them to develop careers after school.

Parents are encouraged to take part in their children’s education on Parent Days where they can learn about their child’s progress and gain greater knowledge about their child’s specific disability. Teachers at Ilboru also make home visits to assess children’s behavior and living conditions.

Operation Bootstrap Africa has worked with the Ilboru Special Needs Education Unit for over a decade. During that time we have provided a number of classrooms, including ones specially designed for sensory needs, as well as dormitories for students who are unable to safely walk to school each day. We also help teachers at Ilboru access continuing education on special needs, and classroom and assessment materials. We are proud to partner with the Ilboru Special Needs Education Unit to give Tanzanian children with disabilities dignity and hope for the future.

Special Projects

Special Projects

PROJECT

Special Projects


Olchoki Primary School ~ Let’s Feed

These Kids!

In northern Tanzania, Olchoki Primary School serves over 1,400 students from the urban center of Arusha. Classes run from 7am – 3pm each day. Before OBA started the lunch program, there was no food or water on campus. Many of the students do not get a regular meal at home either.

At 14 cents per day, per child a school lunch program will cost $32,000 per year. Will you help us feed these kids?

COVID-19 Response ~ Keep Our Students Safe

Our schools need to supplies to combat COVID-19. We are trying to collect as much support as we can for our brothers ans sisters in Tanzania during this time. Supplies are very expensive in Tanzania, and all funds sent will be used for the necessary tools to keep our the students and staff safe.

Madagascar Lunch Program

madagascar lunch

For forty years Operation Bootstrap Africa has been supporting teacher’s salaries at five schools in Madagascar.  In October of 2020, we learned that nine of our students had died of malnutrition.  Due to the three year long drought, compounded by a national COVID-19 lock down, trucks have not been able to move food to markets in the south. The suffering has pushed parents to feeding their families cactus. OBA responded by starting a lunch program for all five of the schools we support in Madagascar. We can’t feed the entire country but we can help the students and teachers we know. Please consider our students in the Malagasy schools.  $600.00 can feed an entire school for a month.

Less than a dollar a week can provide a life sustaining lunch for a student. $600.00 can feed an entire school for a month. Will you help us feed these kids?