St. Timothy’s Primary School

A message from James Nathaniel, Director

“My name is James Nathaniel, and I grew up in western Tanzania. I am the Director of St. Timothy’s Primary School. My wonderful wife Beatrice is the school manager and one of the main reasons we are able to continue moving forward each day.

I have an internal calling to do this work because of personal experience. I had a best friend with a lovely wife and two children. Tragedy struck, and both children died. Shortly after, my friend’s wife passed, and then finally my friend himself died. I didn’t know until later that the entire family was suffering from HIV/AIDS.

This experience has pushed me to action. I asked myself: ‘How can I help those children whose parents die of AIDS?’ So, in 2002, my wife and I began taking children into our home and educating them. That was the beginning of St. Timothy’s, and every day the memory of my friend and his family inspires me to push forward with our work.

My mission is to deliver quality and accessible education for all children for generations to come.”

About

St. Timothy’s Primary School is in Newland, near the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. It provides quality education to 513 children, over 100 of whom would not otherwise be able to afford school fees. The school works on a 2:1 model, where for every two paying children, one at-risk child is supported through their education for free.

In the national exams, St. Timothy’s takes the top 10 position out of 87 schools in the Moshi district and top 30 position out of 344 schools in the Kilimanjaro region. All of their students who finish grade seven pass their national exams and join private and governmental secondary schools.

Founders James and Beatrice Nathaniel have a vision for their community in which any child – regardless of background, religion or family income – has access high quality education and health care. They see these as determining factors to help entire families escape poverty.

St. Timothy’s Primary School is 100% sustainable, meaning they do not rely on sources of outside income to keep their projects running.

3-Year Goals

Health Center

This ambitious project is the most critical for St. Timothy’s Primary School. The nearest health center is 25km, and people die simply because they can’t afford to get to the hospital. Treatable conditions become life-threatening due to a lack of access to health care. The goal is to create a center with trained urgent care staff and educational programs to improve the standard of living here in our community.