A 15-year funding journey with the School of St Jude in Tanzania — from 3 students to thousands, $128,000+ invested, witnessing Gemma Sisia's dream come true.
This visit was a bit of a homecoming for Maureen and Anne. It was our third time at the school. It was Jo's first time. As usual the school lived up to its motto of "we love visitors". We were guided through a jam-packed three-day itinerary during which we were made to feel like an extension of the school community.
A special highlight was spending quality time with school founder, Gemma Sisia to talk about the Next Frontier program. At our March 2025 meeting, the JCF Board had decided to fund the Incubator component, so we were keen to hear about how the first cohort had gone. Our $20,000 grant was used to provide seed funding to the program participants.
We are proud of our long term (now 15 year) commitment to the School of St Jude. When June first met Gemma in 2007, the school was in its early days. Since its start in 2003, it had grown from 3 students to having children in three classes. The donation of $128,000 we delivered in person after climbing Mt Kilimanjaro enabled the construction of the school's first science lab.
It was so evident during our trip that Gemma's dream of educating Tanzania's future leaders is now coming true.
Anne Gripper
Sunshine Coast, QLD
JCF Board member and Foundation administrator. Coordinates funding partnerships across Sunshine Coast, North East Victoria, East Africa, and Papua New Guinea.
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