17-yr-old US student raises Sh100m for Arusha library
What you need to know:
Mathew raised $41,300 from various sources, including church congregations, the Rotary Club and well wishers in Pennsylvania
Arusha. Mathew Hladczuk, a 17-year-old high school student in Pennsylvania State in the US, must have been deeply touched by shortage of education facilities in Arusha.
In his Philadelphia neighbourhood, he had known Prof Richard Mshomba, a Tanzanian economics don who has lived in the US for nearly four decades. He did not interact much with the don teaching at Lasalle University, but went to school with one of his sons, Charles.
Through interactions, Mathew learnt of an education project back in Tanzania that Prof Mshomba had initiated; a community library in Arusha, where he (Mshomba) was raised. He felt he could not let the project go without his contribution. This started in earnest in June last year.
“I was inspired by Prof Mshomba to raise funds to enable the poor students succeed,” he told The Citizen here on Saturday during the opening ceremony of the library extension.
In a short time, he had raised $41,300 from various sources, including church congregations, the Rotary Club and from well wishers in Pennsylvania State. Part of the money, $23,000 was sent here and spent on extending the community library building at Engosengise in Sokon One Ward, Arusha City.
The remainder was spent on supporting other projects managed by a non-governmental organisation running the library called Madecha. The facility opened in December 2016. On Saturday, the soft-spoken and rather shy Mathew was the centre of attraction during the ceremony graced by Arusha District Commissioner Gabriel Daqarro. “Thank you Mathew and your family for this generous contribution. This is a rare gesture of generosity,” he said calling on Tanzanians to invest in library services.
“Make this library sustainable. It should be a source of knowledge and skills,” he said, calling on special emphasis on science teaching in order for the country to get engineers who will propel the drive for industrialisation.
Prof Mshomba, the 64 year old economics don, said in total $48,000 has been spent on the facility’s structures alone out of over $70,000 raised by himself and friends in the US.
He said, Mathew has also contributed 10 laptops to the facility named Durning-O’Halloran Community Library.
The facility is open for all students from the pre-school level to the high school as well as teachers of all grades.
