Mission

REACH (Rural Education and Community Health) Shirati is dedicated to providing rural Tanzanians access to quality education and health care.

What We Do

> We build educational facilities. We built a primary school from the ground up in a rural area where there was poor educational opportunity. Approximately 600 students now attend the school. This year, 2019, our school tested first in its district out of 117 schools on national testing. On the grounds of our school we built a residence for teachers who need a place to stay, we built rainwater storage tanks and dug a well to provide clean water in an area where water is scarce and generally polluted.

> We support Shirati hospital, the only hospital in a wide area, through our Hospital Food Program. Shirati hospital, like hospitals in many underdeveloped countries, does not provide food to patients who cannot pay for meals on their own or have family members bring them food. Our Food Program provides meals for needy patients in the Maternity and Pediatric Wards and for patients in the Male and Female Wards. In addition, we have raised funds that made possible the shipment of several containers of medical equipment from the US to Shirati hospital. We also recruit doctors and nurses in this country to volunteer at Shirati Hospital.

> We support community development projects. One example is the women's group we helped organize that is in charge of buying and preparing the food for our Hospital Food Program. A second example is the building of a brick oven so that a village women's group could bake bread and raise funds for community projects and for its members.