2015

The school was founded by Alphonce Bulla Kabellerge

"I have always been a curious child and my father was a very strict (almost military level) teacher, who did everything in his power for me to get the best education possible."

About Alphonce:

His father passed away when he was 18, but he was the first born son and with the help of some relatives he was able to go to university. Unfortunately the school system in Tanzania is constructed in such way, that the government randomly assigns a study subject to you at a university of their choice. He was assigned geography and environmental studies at the university of Dodoma. Struggling to find money for rent and food and motivation to go to class, he managed to get his bachelor degree and even get an internship at a tourist company, as per the expectations of his family. 

During his studies he was involved in some community projects and met many international people. Due to his curiosity and global mindset, Al has always been interested in international politics, technology progress and progressive ideas. This made him realize that his real passion in life is to help raise intelligent world citizens with progressive way of thinking, who can embrace positive change, create new ideas and develop the country to another level. 

The beginning:

Unfortunately the level of government education in Tanzania is still very far behind and is not able to do that. So after few unhappy months at the mining company he decided to quit his internship and open a private nursery school in his home town Sengerema. 

This is when his struggle began, since his family was not supportive of his decision. As the oldest one from a family of 7 siblings and a widowed mother and the only one with university degree, everyone was expecting him to marry and provide for the whole family. He was exactly the opposite: single and broke. But with a dream and determination. So he started doing some jobs here and there and used the money to build a small school building on a family land in front of his house. Of course he knew nothing about norms and requirements, he just wanted to see his dream happening. He went through town, talking to people, going into their homes, trying to convince them of his progressive idea and his capability. And finally, at the age of 28, he initiated the first class at Kabellerge School & Learning Center

2019

The new beginning

The only problem was that his family was still disapproving of his life choice and started making his life hell. They used different psychological and manipulative instruments against him to the point where the amount of pupils started reducing, but this didn't stop him. He was once even arrested by the police for using the family premises for school purposes illegaly and taken by force out of the classroom, after which the school was closed. 

But this didn't stop him neither. He reopened the school and started talking to the parents again, slowly increasing the number of pupils. And just as he thought that things are working out again the ministry of education came and shut him down, because the building doesn’t correspond to the legal requirements. Even this didn't stop him and he reopened the school again eventually, knowing that he has to move from there eventually. 

One day in 2017 he remembered that his family has a farm land in a village called Bulunga, 5 km away from Sengerema. As a family member he was entitled to a share of the land, which was unfortunately only 2 acres and the government requirement for school premises in Tanzania is a minimum of 3,5 acres. He initiated discussions with all family members and eventually got additional 2 acres in exchange of his share of the family house and land. But this didn't matter, because now he had his own 4 acres of land and could start building his dream again.

Whit what money you would ask? With no money, only using his strength, mind and some help from his neighbours. He was digging sand, cutting trees, bringing stones from near by...

when I, Tanya Simova, came into the picture. I arrived to Bulunga as a volunteer and was planing on staying for 3 weeks. After listening to his story while sitting literally on a pile of stones I knew I had to dig in and make this happen!

After 3 weeks of hard physical work and a lot of fundraising through social media and friends the new and current building of the Kabellerge School & Learning Center was completed!