It is known that the number of mosques where Muslims can pray together and schools where Muslim children can receive education is insufficient in Tanzania. In order to resolve this problem, the IHH is carrying out various studies in the region. An education complex which has a mosque and school and named after IHH employee Faruk Aktaş, who was killed in a plane crash in 2010 near Afghanistan where he was travelling to launch the construction of an orphanage, is one of such projects. The construction of this 150-student complex was completed last year and the school was inaugurated with 96 students.
One third of the students at the Faruk Aktaş Muslim School are orphans. Farouk Hamad, an official from the Muzdalifah Foundation which is a partner of the IHH in the region, said the number of orphans at the school will increase in the upcoming years and they will reach out to more orphans.
Hamad said the school, located in western part of Zanzibar, has a special program for orphans. He said there are qualified teachers and supervisors at the school who deal with all problems of the students.
The education program is supported by various social activities, said Hamad as he shared his impressions from the activities at school as follows: “We organize trips to tourism and culture sites so that the students can spend time together, establish warm relations with their teachers and each other, take photos and enjoy themselves. We lastly went to Kizimkazi coast, which is one of the tourism sites of Zanzibar. Children who enjoyed themselves through various activities along with their teachers, have for the first time seen dolphins thanks to this trip.”
Kizimkazi where tourists coming to the region flock to see the dolphins is of historic importance because it is the place where the first mosque in East Africa was constructed. Noting that the main goal of their studies is to make children happy, Hamad said there is need to increase the capacity of the education complex, number of teachers and equipments there in order to be able to reach out to more children and offer a more qualified education.
