Burger Roland Gymnasium collects donations for Tanzania

On Monday, November 8, 2021, student representatives of the Burger Roland-Gymnasium, with Thomas Dreher, the director of the school, and Ralf Sieber, teacher of geography and history, handed over a donation check in the amount of 5,000 euros for the project "One World". Lecturer and project leader Dr. László Szabó was pleased about the great commitment of the high school and warmly accepted the donation with thanks.
5,000 euros is a lot of money. How did the students and their teachers manage to raise such a large sum and donate it to Tanzania? How did it come about that the school is committed to a project in Africa?
Since February 2019, there has been a cooperation agreement between Roland-Gymnasium and Friedensau Adventist University (FAU). The intention of the contract is to open the students' eyes to challenges that children and young people face in other parts of the world. The international work of the university, especially the work in Tanzania, offers the best starting points for this. For many years, several villages in the Longido district (Arusha region, Tanzania) have been supported in development projects; at present, these include the construction of new preschools and elementary school as well as water supply for the schools and villages.
Except in times of Corona, representatives of the FAU travel annually with students to Tanzania for project assignments. On one trip, representatives of the Burger Gymnasium were among them. They were able to experience at first hand how development cooperation works. These experiences and the reports on them acted as a catalyst. The students of the Roland-Gymnasium caught the ball and are now enthusiastically promoting the "One-World-Projects" with their possibilities. For some time now, donations have been collected through their own student company in intercultural projects. Various actions could be implemented. Thus the idea arose to hold a benefit concert for this purpose as well and to donate the proceeds. Pottery is produced in the ceramics workshop and sold at bazaars for a good cause. Private sponsors and regional companies donated additionally. Little by little, the sum of

5,000 euros was collected, which could now be handed over. "This money," says lecturer and project manager Dr. László Szabó of the FAU, "will initially be used to support the construction of a dormitory for the female students of the elementary school in Karao (Tanzania). The construction is urgently needed to enable 50 girls from the Maasai ethnic group to attend the school. They live too far away from the school to be able to walk to school every day. This dormitory gives them access to education; it opens paths to a later qualified professional life. The project is supported by the Adventist Church in Tanzania; the Burger Roland Gymnasium as well as the FAU, lecturers and students provide additional support." Further fundraising activities are planned.