Lions Club Moshi Kibo set down record for Msandaka VTC

Lions Club Moshi Kibo has handed over the Vocational Training Centre building at Msandaka Primary School for the Deaf, making it the first in Tanzania for primary schools with special needs to have a Vocational College.

The opening of the Vocational Training Centre was made by the Director for Special Needs Education, Ministry of Education Dr. Magreth Matonya.

In his speech Dr. Matonya thanked the philanthropists for the great contribution they made to the construction of the Msandaka Vocational Training Centre.

"We have found here that they are learning tailoring, they are learning carpentry, we have seen that they make good chairs, beautiful stools but they have modern equipment that has been given to them by philanthropists from Lions Club International, this center is very important," said Dr. Matonya.

In addition Dr. Matonya said the existence of the College which was built with more than TZS 700 mil. will open the community to students with special needs.

Previously, the Coordinator of Deaf from tha Ministry of Education Selemani Chamshama said, in recent years the society's attitude towards students with special needs has changed and become positive compared to many years ago.

"This college is rare for our country. As you remember in previous years, the society did not have much understanding about deaf students, but now there has been a great understanding about students with disabilities, especially the deaf," said Chamshama.

On his part, Moshi Municipality Director, Rashid Gembe said it was not an easy task to find the vocational training centre in Msandaka.

"This school got registration after going through various challenges and making it possible to solve them. The Office of the Director (Moshi Municipality) expresses sincere thanks for the great funding from Lions Club Moshi in collaboration with other stakeholders to have the idea of building a technical college," said Gembe.

In addition, the District Governor of the Lions Club 411C Mustansir ghulamHussein expressed his sincere gratitude to the Lions Club of Belgium for making the construction of the college a success.

"It is our hope that you will continue to support us, Together we stand and Together we are united... the dream we dreamed together has now become a reality," said GhulamHussein.

However, Professor Jerome Sheridan from Belgium said that education is the most important thing to help those with special needs due to the challenges they are going through.

"Dear students, your vocational college is reality. Why have we done this? Because we have faith in you...despite the challenges, you can combat them if you study in this college," he said.

In addition, Professor Sheridan stressed that Msandaka Vocational Training Centre will go further beyond agriculture to build more capacity for students with special needs.

"Agriculture is important but this vocational college will go far beyond agriculture by providing them with other skills so that they can support them in their lives," said Prof. Jerome

Apart from that, the Head Teacher of Msandaka deaf Primary School, Rosada Shayo, said the idea for the construction of the college started after a research which find out that after their students finish primary school and join secondary schools, when they reach form two, they are sent back home due to bad results, so they fall into challenges again.

The Chairman of Lions Club Moshi Kibo Sarah Mandara Jones and his Secretary Inderjeet Rehal expressed their gratitude to all who participated in achieving this success.

"Thank you very much for what you did for Msandaka; You will be remembered for many years to come, in the history of Msandaka, your names will always be written. Thank you very much."