School of St Jude

The School of St. Jude is a charity-funded school located in the city of Arusha, in the northern Arusha Region of Tanzania. With its three campuses, the school provides free primary and secondary education to children in the Arusha Region. It also provides board for over 1,000 students and employs over 270 local Tanzanian staff members. It was founded by Australian Gemma Sisia in 2002, based on the belief that education is the best way to fight poverty.

History
The school was founded in 2002 by Australian Gemma Sisia. She named the school after St Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes. The school provides free education to over 1,800 girls and boys from the poorest families in the area. It is 100% charity-funded and receives no government assistance from Tanzania or Australia. 90% of the school's funding comes from Australian families, who signed up to sponsor a child or donate.

Each year, the school selects approximately 150 new students who show academic promise, combined with genuine and demonstrable financial need. These girls and boys are then provided with education, accommodation, and three meals per day.

Infrastructure
The school is situated across three campuses. The primary campus, along with the visitors center and administrative office, is located in the Moshono neighborhood of Arusha. Boarding facilities for primary students starting from Class 5 are situated a 15-minute walk away in the Moivaro neighborhood. The secondary school campus, which includes its own boarding accommodations and a 6-acre school farm, is situated about a 20-minute drive from the primary campus in the town of Usa River.

St. Jude's operates a fleet of 27 school buses, while two libraries house an extensive collection of over thirty thousand books, CDs, and DVDs. The students have access to various facilities including science labs, sports fields, computer rooms, and art studios. All students are provided with hot lunches and a daily snack. Boarding students additionally receive breakfast and dinner. The institution employs a workforce of over 270 East African staff members and collaborates with more than 15 international volunteers hailing from various parts of the world.

Rotary Australia
On the advice of Sisia's father, she contacted local Rotary clubs. Gemma and a family friend engaged members of local Rotary clubs in Australia, who brought local schools on board, which allowed the establishment of St Jude's.

Gemma engaged in speaking events at Rotary Clubs across Australia, which led to an increase in donors. In 2000, Armidale Central Rotary Club organized a group of 13 volunteers to travel to Tanzania and build the first block of classrooms.

In 2016, senior St Jude's students founded youth Rotary branches of their own.

US support and charitable status
The secondary campus is named after the American Smith family, of the Gordon V. and Helen C. Smith Foundation, based in the Washington, D.C. area of the United States. Their connection to St Jude's came about after the family traveled together to Tanzania for a safari in 2004 and the tour guide took them to visit a local public school. After seeing classes with up to 120 students and few resources, they decided to support a nonprofit initiative providing educational opportunities in Tanzania. A couple of months later, family members returned to Arusha, visited a number of schools and decided to get involved with St Jude's. Their donation and personal involvement made it possible for St Jude's to extend its educational offering to the secondary school level. In September 2016 the school announced that the American Friends of the School of St Jude, Tanzania, Inc. launched a new website.

Visitors and word of mouth
As part of its fundraising and marketing activities, the school receives hundreds of visitors each year for day tours of the school grounds. Sponsors of students can visit the school and stay in local accommodation.

The school also offers special two- or three-week tours including safaris in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater national parks, excursions to see local tribes, and trips to Zanzibar.