Engaruka School

On Saturday 22 February I’m starting a bike ride in New Zealand called Tour Aotearoa which begins at Cape Reinga at the top of the North Island and finishes 3,000 kilometres later at Bluff at the bottom of the South Island. The ride travels through NZ back country and so covers all sorts of terrain, plus it’s fully self-supported. I’m aiming to complete the event in roughly 30 days.

Aside from being a personal challenge, the primary aim of the ride is to raise funds for building a school at Engaruka in Northern Tanzania. This project is the vision of Jonathan and Kath Morris and is being undertaken in memory of their son Marcus, who was my godson, and who died suddenly in October 2017.

Engaruka is an isolated town 3 hours drive west of Arusha, which is home to the Masai people, and where literacy rates are incredibly low because so few children go to school. Kids in this part of the world need access to good education in order to break the cycle of poverty. The local community has pledged 50 acres of flat land for the project which is suitable for building.

The long term plan is to provide primary through to secondary education for children but in the first instance the aim is to build 6 classrooms and some accommodation for teachers which would be enough to enable the school to open. This is targeted for completion by mid 2021. To give you a sense of what’s required, $20k would be enough to build 2 classrooms with some money left over for additional facilities or landscaping.

Donations are tax deductible and will be matched by my employer through the Macquarie Group Foundation, hence I’d ask that you give generously.

The Katoke Trust is based in Australia and is the umbrella charity under which the Engaruka project is being undertaken.

Many thanks
Martin