The current situation regarding the impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on The Meserani Project, as of 5 April 2020, is detailed below.

On 17 March 2020 all schools, colleges and universities in Tanzania were closed for an initial period of 30 days. This meant that those pupils who were being sponsored by us to attend secondary school were sent home. The situation regarding our A’ Level, college and university students is not clear as regards individual cases – some of the students will have returned home, but those who are studying at establishments a long way from home may well have stayed in the accommodation that our sponsorship has provided for them.

The Chairman and Treasurer of The Meserani Project are due to travel to Tanzania on 6 July, and one of the most important tasks during that visit is to make the necessary payments to our A’ Level students for their first or second year of studies, starting in July. They are also due to make the necessary payments for our university students who start their academic year in September/October. If the current travel bans are still in place in July, then these payments will not be able to be made. This would be a critical situation – however, we are currently working with our representatives in Tanzania to explore secure arrangements for the necessary money to be sent to Tanzania, and it may well be that schools, colleges and universities will not have resumed at that time anyway.

Whilst the Coronavirus Pandemic has not yet impacted on Tanzania to the same extent as in other parts of the world, the expectations are that once the virus does take a hold, the impact will be much worse than in countries such as Italy, Spain, China and the U.S.A. The infrastructure for health care is considerably less developed, and the economic situation is such that the government will not be able to provide support for people who are not able to work. We have received messages from head teachers in Tanzania, students and community leaders, and they are all extremely concerned about the future.

We will keep this page updated as and when there are any significant developments.