Clean Water and Sanitation for Tanzania Schoolchildren

Fredericksburg Essentials  partnered with Rotary Clubs in Fredericksburg Texas and Karagwe Tanzania in June 2023 to train teachers and high school students to make liquid soap.  The soap will be used in seven public schools in Tanzania for hand washing.  Soap will also be sold in the community to raise funds to purchase additional supplies, making this a sustainable project for the future.  With an initial investment from Fredericksburg Essentials, the Karagwe Rotary Club trained 140 students in making soap with each school group making 1400 liters of soap.  The start-up monies donated by Fredericksburg Essentials were used to purchase buckets, mixing sticks, jugs, labels, gloves, masks and soap ingredients.  

The Tanzania soap making project was part of a Rotary water and sanitation construction project in seven public schools located in the Katoma area in northwest Tanzania.  The Rotary Clubs constucted rainwater catchment tanks, toilets, hand washing sinks and incinerators for sanitary napkins at the schools which enroll a total of 3,739 children ages 5 to 18 years old.  Before the project the children were spending several hours a day walking to gather  dirty water from a stream.  The project will decrease the incidence of water-borne illnesses among the chilren and improve academics at the schools.  

This coming year the Rotary Clubs in Fredericksburg and Tanzania plan to continue collaborating to construct rainwater catchment tanks and toilets at additional public schools in the northwest area of Tanzania.  Fredericksburg Essentials will donate $1 for each bar of soap sold from the Sabuni Collection to this project.