Our education work has given us special ties with the women today who were our students. I often meet up with former students in many places - as they teach, work in hospitals or just when I'm shopping or having a cup of tea in a restaurant. I am immediately invited into their families. For me, education has been an opening into the very heart of Tanzanian women.

A week never passes that I don't meet at least one former student and often I meet several. It isn't always possible to put a name with a face, but I am always delighted to meet them, to hear of their families and their lives. Some have achieved renown in high positions, many are busy working mothers and even grandmothers. It is wonderful to meet each one, to see their joy in meeting me, to talk of their school days and their families. Thousands of Tanzanian women remember their Maryknoll Sister teachers with gratitude and affection. I feel privileged to have been part of this

The thoughts of these two Maryknoll Sisters would surely be shared by all of the Maryknoll Sisters who were in the education ministry in Tanzania. Since their arrival in Kowak in December 1948, the Maryknoll Sisters have been involved in almost every type and level of education imaginable: from lower primary to upper primary to secondary schools and university; commercial and teachers training; church-related schools and government institutions; special types of education like teaching the deaf, language school, carpentry school, seminaries, school for sister catechists, music school and community schools. Through the years these institutions have numbered 34. Besides this, sisters have been and continue to be involved in many kinds of informal education. As needs changed, Maryknoll Sisters were always ready to meet the new needs and new challenges.

The story begins in Kowak, in Musoma Diocese, with Sisters Margaret Rose Winkelmann and Gertrude Maley. At this time there was little interest in girls' education, especially in North Mara. The boys would study while the girls would do the boys' work. Then girls would marry and take care of their children and husbands. In 1949 a primary school opened with Standard One. Fifty-two pupils came on the first day, but one hundred and six arrived on the second day as word got around. Of course the numbers leveled off, but the first educational work of the Maryknoll Sisters had begun.

By 1950 the government felt that African teachers were sufficient to staff lower primary schools and suggested that the sisters be involved in middle schools, Standards 5 to 8. At the request of the Maryknoll Fathers, the Sisters took on the administration of the Kowak Boys' Middle School from 1954 to 1957. Their involvement in girl's middle schools began in 1957. In all they administered four such schools, three being in Maryknoll Fathers' dioceses. The first was the Immaculate Heart Training School, a special middle school for sister aspirants from the diocese of Musoma and Shinyanga. Many sisters taught here including the first headmistress Sr. Gertrude Maley, Sisters Margaret Rose Winkelmann, Julie Marie Fitzsimmons, Pat Gallogly, Margaret O'Brien, Ann Klaus and Jane Vella. The school opened in Kowak and later moved to Makoko. It then became a regular upper primary school for girls.

Two more girls upper primary schools opened in 1961, one in each of the two Maryknoll Fathers' Dioceses. Marylake Girls' Upper Primary School, with Sister Joan Campbell as headmistress, had two temporary locations, Rosana and Makoko, before it moved to its beautiful permanent site at Isango right on Lake Victoria. At that time it was the only girls' upper primary school in north Mara. An African Sister became headmistress in 1965 and Sister Pat Gallogly stayed on as staff member until 1967.

The Sisters' first educational involvement in Shinyanga Diocese was St. Mary's Girls Middle School in Buhangija. Opening in 1961, with Sister Pat Cain as headmistress, it was the only upper primary school for girls in the Shinyanga Region. A boarding school, many girls lived as far as 100 miles away.

Both Sisters Pat and Ann Klaus, the only two Maryknoll Sisters who were at this school, have fond memories of their students and of the school. Sr. Pat writes:

Our school at Buhangija was involved with the community. As part of their activities students eagerly volunteered to help in the Maternal Child Clinics in many ways. Some still continue this work in their parishes. They also helped in adult literacy and were active in building the school for the blind, carrying materials, watering bricks and making uniforms. The school grew from teaching under the trees to a beautiful complex. The Maryknoll Fathers were education secretaries and we worked closely with them".

Sister Ann writes of her continued contact with two Buhangija students:

Recently Rosa came up to me at the ferry to bring me two loaves of bread from her new bakery. Beatrice happened to take cover from the rain in the same shop I did in Mwanza. Twenty-five years had passed since our cooking classes in Buhangija. Now we exchanged recipes for wine-making, oblivious to the fact that the rain had stopped".

The fourth and last girls upper primary school which Maryknoll Sisters administered was different from the other schools up to that time. It was outside a Maryknoll Fathers' diocese, being in the Kigoma Diocese at Kabanga. Also from the beginning there was an agreement that the sisters would administer the school for only two years, after which Tanzanian teachers would take over. So, for the years 1963-1964 Sister Julie Marie Fitzsimmons and Jacqueline Dorr were in this school. An interesting fact is that two other Maryknoll Sisters, Noreen McCarthy and Elizabeth Gormley, returned to Kabanga in 1966 until 1971 to administer an interdiocesan Catechetical and Social Training School for African Sisters, the first of its kind in East Africa.

In the late 1950's and through the 1960' the sisters' involvement in education took on a new and very significant development. The Tanzania educational system, from four years each of lower primary and then upper primary school was phased out to a seven year primary system. Boarding schools were phased out and the mission schools were nationalized.

In 1957 only 150 African students had finished Form IV. At the time of independence in 1961 only 90 Tanzanians out of a population of 10,000,000 had university degrees. Not one African woman was among them! So the need for women's education was crucial and of the greatest priority.

The Maryknoll Sisters participated in preparing women to take their role in building their new nation by their involvement in secondary education. It is for this involvement, certainly, that Maryknoll Sisters' educational efforts are best known, especially in the three church-related schools which they administered: Marian College, Rosary College and Rugambwa Secondary School. Although, in fact, the sisters were involved in several other government secondary schools as staff members and many other schools of special types of education, these three schools had much influence. The Sisters set them up, administered them and built up school spirit and policies. Also they were involved in these schools for a longer period.

The first work in secondary schools was at Marian College, located at the foot of the Uluguru Mountains in Morogoro. Opening in 1957 with girls from 27 different tribes, this was a territorial school under the Tanzania Bishops' Conference and was subsidized by the government, being termed a 'Voluntary Agency' school. The first three Maryknoll Sister teachers, who were later followed by dozens of other sisters, were Sister Dolores Marie Jansen the headmistress, Margaret Rose Winkelmann and Marian Teresa Dury. The following was contributed to this history by Sister Dolores Marie:

The Maryknoll Sisters were privileged to be invited to open the first Catholic High (secondary) school for girls in Tanganyika in 1957. The school followed the British Education System and the young girls were very serious about their studies and both they and their teachers worked hard to succeed in the difficult examinations. The academic studies were enriched with many other activities such as music, art, drama, debating teams, training in leadership, as well as a Marian Monthly paper whose shield carried the motto, Charity-Truth. All this was intended to prepare the young women for an active and intelligent role in the service of their people and their country. Basic to all this, and most important, was the development of a beautiful family spirit, and to this day, 1995, the alumnae still refer to themselves as the Marian Family.

Another Maryknoll Sister, Sr. Geneva Lassiter, says that "Our educational efforts affirmed what students already had - it let them express what they knew and encouraged and 'coaxed' them along because that's what they needed. The British Concentric System, notebooks filled with data that students carried year after year was a data bank that they used well and kept coming back to new levels each time". Both Sister Geneva and Sister Maureen Meyer agree that the Maryknoll Sisters' contribution was to provide an atmosphere in which young women could have a chance at education; they came with their intelligence and their deep desire for education. Because they had the opportunity to develop they did so and they became leaders in whatever fields they got into in the future. One of the original Maryknoll Sister staff, Sister Marian Teresa Dury says:

One value that I feel was instilled was the appreciation of the opportunity for education that each girl had and the need and responsibility to share the fruits of that education. I think we tried to help them appreciate and value their African culture and to be proud of the fact that they were Tanganyikans. The Marian Family Spirit was a source of unity and of bonding in the school. I think that Sister Dolores Marie was instrumental in helping it to be so strong".

Each year at Marian College graduations, one student gave an address. The following is from the Class of 1964, given by Mary Phillips:

Because of the guidance and the love we have received, we find ourselves very different from the frightened little freshmen we were four years ago. Since then we have been sharing dreams, joys, tears, and laughter together. We sought the key of Truth, hungered for knowledge and our Mother, Marian College, has provided us with both, without herself diminishing in any way. She taught us to do what is right regardless of people's opinions: to be kind, good, generous, and above all, to love - a selfless love of service with no thought of reward. She has done all she could to mould us into the young women of character that we are now. As women, valiant women, we are aware of the tremendous responsibility we have, of contributing to the betterment of the world. We are eager now to be on our way - to give and to share all that we have acquired.

The invitation to administer and staff the second girls secondary school came from Bishop Blomjous, Missionary of Africa Bishop of Mwanza. This school, Rosary College, was located in Nyegezi, 7 km from Mwanza town. Three Sisters were on the original staff, two of whom came from Marian College: Sister Josephine Lucker the headmistress and Sister Margaret Rose Winkelmann. As was often the case the first year took place in borrowed buildings until the school was ready. The first intake of 'Rosarians' came from a geographical area one third the size of Tanzania, from the areas around Lake Victoria. Again the school followed the curriculum which led to the International Cambridge School Certificate Examinations.

The students were challenged by Mathematics and science subjects. Previously young men excelled in these fields, so the male students from nearby schools were dismayed that not only were women teaching these subjects but that the Rosary students were also excelling at them! Sister Josephine recalls being told by some of the girls about a note that one of the young men had written on the Mathematics board after a visit to the school: "Even if they can do Math, remember that they are still only women".

Rosary College also had many extra-curricula activities, which have been an integral part of Maryknoll Sisters educational efforts. The evening celebrations around a roaring campfire were times of celebrating life in song and dance. "They taught us so much about this gift of celebrating life for no one of us was allowed to sit as an observer" writes Sister Josephine.

Perhaps the following words, spoken at the 1964 Rosary College graduation, summarize what education meant to these girls. They were written by Bertha Alphonse Nyagetera, who later joined the foreign service as did her husband who was at one time the Tanzania ambassador to the United States:

We now realize the importance of our education here. The more we have received the more we must give. Since we are few girls among many who never had a chance of schooling we are not just responsible to pass on to them what we have learned but we are obliged to do so and it is our first duty. These people have as much right to the joys of life as we do. It is our responsibility to help them improve their lives, to help them know that there is a great meaning in their lives, to teach them to love their lives and their country. Our country is young, it has a responsible President but it is we who will make it what it will be. If we only remember that there is always something to do if we only look around, and that there is nothing to do if we keep our eyes shut. By putting into practice all that we have learned here we will be better Christians and better citizens.

The third and last secondary school which the Maryknoll Sisters administered and staffed was at the invitation of Cardinal Rugambwa. Located on a high hill overlooking Bukoba town, and Lake Victoria, the brick buildings were beautiful, two-story built around a quadrangle. For the first six months the students were welcome to share the primary school at Kashozi, causing very crowded conditions. So the move was a happy day for both the primary school and the new secondary school. Two Maryknoll Sisters opened the school: the headmistress Sister Katie Erisman who had previously been at both Marian College and Rosary College, and Sister Jacqueline Dorr. Others joined them and they welcomed an African Sister to join the staff. A Marian graduate she was the first African Sister to teach in a secondary school in Tanzania.

Rugambwa differed from the first two secondary schools in that for the first two years it was a private school under the Diocese of Bukoba. After that it was funded by the government as were the other secondary schools. Following the first two schools Rugambwa placed importance on extra-curricula activities and self-reliance. Former students still remember how hard they worked, and dug, to get out the deep roots in front of the school so that it could be the beautiful lawn that it became.

From 1957 until the mid 1970s, these three schools were an important educational effort of the Maryknoll Sisters in Tanzania. Each of the schools is remembered by students and by the many sisters who taught there, not just for their academic excellence but also for their extra-curricula activities, their spirit and bonding. The many extra-curricula activities differed with the times. During Marian College's first years, 'socials' or dances with boys from nearby schools were not yet allowed. So the girls made their own entertainment, developing their gifts for drama, music and art. Marian College excelled in dramatic productions and even put on two Gilbert and Sullivan operettas! Rosary College excelled in sports. One student, Teresea Dismas from Kowak, represented Tanzania at the first All Africa Games in Brazzaville in 1965 and won the only Tanzania medal, for Javelin. By the time Rugambwa Secondary opened, 'Socials' with the boys schools were common and much anticipated events!

The year 1973 was a milestone for the Maryknoll Sisters, for in that year the last sister left each of these three schools after 17 years in Marian College, 13 years in Rosary and 8 years at Rugambwa. Previously the sisters had turned over the administration to Tanzanians but some Sisters had remained on the staff of each year. It was a source of great pride and joy that the new Tanzanian headmistresses were graduates of Maryknoll secondary schools.

Contact, interest and pride in the graduates of these three schools continues. Sister Josephine Lucker revisited Rosary in 1987, 17 years after she left, and she found it a time of great joy, of meeting students and families and hearing of other graduates. They shared their experiences and talked of their families and their careers. "I marvelled at how much they did. I realized when we were together in the evening that we were mutually re-affirming each other, celebrating our togetherness and our on-going journeys."

In 1994 Sr. Katie Erisman revisited Rugambwa secondary after 25 years and was delighted to see the buildings and the beautiful grounds. But especially she was touched by the warm welcome and spirit of the staff and students. Thousands of Tanzanian women passed through these 'Maryknoll schools'. They are found in all professions and high positions of responsibility. A Marian graduate, Gertrude Mongella, is presently Secretary-General of the Fourth World Congress of Women, to be held in Beijing in 1995. Another is President of Pax Romanis, an International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs. One is head of the Women's Education Commission of UNESCO for Sub-Saharan Africa. There have been many headmistresses, directors of nursing schools, government ministers, an ambassador and university professors. Many have been active in their Christian communities. There are many Mother Generals of Tanzania Religious Congregations. Most have raised families and been working mothers and have used what they received to improve the lives of their families, church and nation.

OTHER EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS

One important educational contribution was made by Sister Anita MacWilliam, a trained linguist. She set up the language program at the Makoko Language School run by the Maryknoll Fathers, and was there from 1964 to 1978. This school, called "Lugha University" has been, and still is, highly regarded and has prepared hundreds of expatriates, both with language skills and with knowledge of the culture, which have been of the greatest importance to the graduates. Two other sisters were on the language school staff at various times, Sr. Julie Marie Fitzsimmons for one year and Sr. Anita Magovern from 1970 to 1974.

Through the 1960s, Maryknoll Sisters were teaching at the Social Training Center Nyegezi. Sister Anita MacWilliam was the first, in 1962. Others followed including Sisters Imelda Bautista, Rosanne Ong and Peg Donovan. Sister Peg, who taught Community Development and Domestic Science to women and Sociology to male rural development workers, reflects on these male students: "I wonder what happened to them, all 25 men sent every year by the Ministry. I was sure after teaching them all those years that development would only happen truly if women were involved and trained". Many other sisters shared this conviction and it is one of the reasons that Maryknoll Sisters began working with women in community development training.

Four minor seminaries are included among the Maryknoll Sisters educational history. St. Pius Seminary in Makoko, the minor seminary for Musoma and Shinyanga Diocese, welcomed Sisters Pat Gallogly and Eileen Manning to their staff. After an absence of some years Sister Margaret Rose Winkelmann joined the staff as an English teacher, helping the Seminary to achieve high academic standings. At the present, 1995, Sister Margaret Monroe is a staff member, teaching Biology and Religion.

The Nyegezi Seminary in Mwanza counted Sr. Marion Hughes on their staff. She writes: "Our involvement in seminaries was valuable not only from an educational standpoint but also a witness to students of mutual respect between male and female staff." The other minor seminaries where Maryknoll Sister taught were Soni in the Tanga Diocese with Sr. Kathy Magee and Itaga in Tabora with Sister Kathryn Shannon.

From their initial work at Kowak, the education of Tanzanian Sisters had always been a concern of the Maryknoll Sisters. At Marian College the sister students had their own dormitory. It was seen, however, that African sisters needed their own school. Many were older, after going through the novitiate from primary school. They were therefore out of the regular selection process. In 1968 a Secondary School for African Sisters was opened in Kurasini, Dar es Salaam. A Maryknoll Sister, Sister Joan Campbell, after teaching in primary and secondary schools, became the first headmistress of this school. The school later moved to Bigwa and continues today with Forms I through VI.

The origins of another educational work of the Maryknoll Sisters, the Shinyanga Commercial School, can be traced to Fr. Al Smidlein. With Sr. Joan Michel Kirsch he opened a small center for ex-Standard 8 pupils, using second-hand typewriters. During Vatican II a grant was available for a commercial school in Tanzania and Bishop McGurkin immediately became interested. Thus Shinyanga Commercial Institute was born in 1965. This was a territorial school for students who had completed Form IV and was a two-year course, taking 60 students each year. Maryknoll Sister staff included Sr. Mary Anne O'Donnell the first Principal, Sisters Rae Ann O'Neill, Damien Marie McGovern and Vera Krass. President Nyerere is quoted as having said: "My kingdom for 20 good stenographers". Shinyanga Commercial Institute, known as ShyCom, met an important need in business training and made a valuable contribution to the nation.

But times were changing. The new nation was developing. More and more Tanzanians were receiving professional education. Teachers were qualified to administer secondary schools as well as being teachers. As the Maryknoll Sisters turned over the administration of the three secondary schools to Tanzanian women, they became involved in education in another way as they joined the staff of government secondary schools. The first was Machame Girls School on the slopes of beautiful Mt. Kilimanjaro in Moshi. For the first time Maryknoll Sisters worked as staff members under a Tanzania headmistress rather than administering the school. Coincidentally, at Machame, Sisters Katie Erisman and Rachel Kunkler had as headmistress Mary Kasinde, who had taught at Marian College and whom the Maryknoll Sisters had helped to get a scholarship to study at St. Mary's Notre Dame. Throughout the 1970s the sisters taught in 7 other secondary schools, 5 girls schools and 5 boys schools.

But the story has not ended and a new and exciting venture was about to begin. In 1975 at the direct request of President Nyerere, Maryknoll Sisters became involved in a type of alternative education. Mwalimu Nyerere believed that a new type of post-primary education could be valuable. Up to this time students from primary school were chosen for secondary schools if fortunate, and this was seen as preparation for further education or training or at least a job in the towns. They left their rural areas and few returned home. What Mwalimu Nyerere saw was needed was a type of education which would prepare girls with basic education and needed skills to continue to develop and especially to help develop their rural areas.

Thus Nangwa was born. It was located in a wheat-growing area of Arusha Region in the Mbulu Diocese, at the base of Mt. Hanang. Built with local materials and local workers, the Nangwa Community Schools took girls from the local area for four years of education, aiming at self-reliance and service to their communities. They grew their own food, did all of the cooking, helped harvest the wheat from the mechanized farm. For the first two years general subjects were taught, in Swahili. The last two years were for specialization, some skill needed by the village such as accountancy, nursery schools, agriculture and small-income generating activities. President Nyerere kept an interest from the beginning and visited the school twice, once to lay the cornerstone and to give out certificates at the first graduation.

Four Maryknoll Sisters began at Nangwa: Katie Erisman, Geneva Lassiter, Maureen Meyer and Ceny San Pedro. Others followed including Sisters Janet Miller, Connie Krautkremer and Darlene Jacobs. Sister Darlene remained on the staff after the school was officially handed over to the government of Tanzania in May, 1985. This event, culminating ten years of planning, blood, sweat and tears (literally) was a powerful tribute to all Maryknoll Sisters in Tanzania. Bibiana Mkenda became the new headmistress.

Because Sister Darlene was so convinced of the value and need of this type of education, she had a dream of helping to start another school in Tanzania like Nangwa. At that time, Sister Darlene wrote:

My dream is to help start another school in Tanzania which is like Nangwa. After being at Nangwa for nearly eight years, I firmly believe in the type of education which is offered there. It is an education for life after school not perfect, and yet it seems to me to be much more suited to the needs of life in Tanzania than that provided at the regular secondary schools which are being started all over the country. There are so many practical skills learned by these young women at Nangwa which help them to be self-reliant members of their communities. It is not a school for the future doctors, lawyers, highly professional women of this country, but for the future farmers and village service people, and maybe a few outstanding women who will be called to other things.

Thanks to her untiring efforts she single-handedly brought this dream to reality. In 1994 Murigha Community School for Girls opened in Singida Region and in 1995 it was officially opened by the President of the Republic, President Mwinyi.

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