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Prize for Women's
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"Promoting Women’s rights" |
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Africa 
Tanzania
Sister Placida MOSHA
Building with bricks and creativity
One of twelve children born to a farming couple near Mt. Kilimanjaro,
Sister Placida (64) was given the opportunity to fulfil a dream of hers:
a fully self-reliant, sustainable school for vocational training. So many
projects fail because the initiators depend on foreign donors not only
for the initial investment, but also for continued funding.
After introducing drip irrigation, which enabled the school not only to
immensely improve the school diet but also reduce water consumption, she
created a fishpond that not only feeds the students but is also able to
sell the surplus, thus generating income. Not content with that, she then
purchased an interlocking brick mould, which produces bricks that are
curved and can fit into each other with the use of little or no cement,
thus saving significantly on construction costs of the school extension.
The school now also sells these bricks locally, thus adding to its self-generating
income. (The construction of a small house is one of the major life goals
of many African families).
The school also grows maize, operates its own maize mill and raises pigs.
The manure from the pigs is utilized both to fertilize gardens and coat
the bottom of the fishpond.
It is important to add that a significant portion of the students are
physically disabled. And finally, Sister Placida, at 64, is still a powerhouse
of creativity and energy. Her high quality vocational school is fully
certified by the Vocational Education Training Authority of Tanzania and
brings a very significant contribution to the development of the region.
