Shahibi Singooi Likindabaiki

June 2016

Shahibi’s father disappeared in 2013, and in 2014 his mother moved away to Tanga to find suitable land on which to farm. Shahibi went to live with his uncle in Arusha so that he could continue secondary school. His secondary school was Mwander Secondary School in Arusha town, where he gained a Merit (2.7) in his final examinations. As a result he was selected by the government to join Mkuu High School in Rombo, Kilimanjaro District, to study A’ Levels, and in his first internal examinations he got a Merit (2.4). His uncle managed to pay half of the fees for his first year of A’ Levels, and Shahibi had to take out a loan to cover the rest.

In order to do his second year of A’ Level studies Shahibi had to find 250,000 TSh. This was to repay the loan he took out of this first year, and then to pay for his second year.  Finding the 250,000 TSh was impossible for him, so he went from market to market asking local people if they knew of ways that he could receive financial support. Some time ago a group of women at Kisongo Market told him that there was a project at Meserani Snakepark that supported pupils through education, so he went to visit Loth Naparana, the project secretary at Meserani, who told him that unfortunately there were no sponsors available.

In June 2016 Shahibi heard that some of the project officials from the U.K. were at Snakepark, so he came to see Loth Naparana again, who spoke to Peter & Diane Swan.  They agreed to pay off his loan, his new school fees, and they provided him with other essentials such as personal toiletries, file paper, counter books, pens and pencils. We are now looking for someone to sponsor Shahibi so that he can complete his two years of A’ Level studies.