Born to Learn is an NGO that has been operating in the Kilimanjaro Region in Tanzania for over ten years. There it provides educational, health, nutritional and social support to hundreds of children.
In 2018 we started a Chess Program among the after-school activities that the center in Newland provides.
January 2018, Chess in Newland
We started with two groups, totaling 50 children, half of them preschoolers and the other half of diverse ages from primary school. We also trained 3 local teachers to be able to continue with the chess club on their own.
The project was very successful, the children were engaged immediately and the benefits were evident in every lesson. The children show a higher capacity of concentration, they developed critical thinking skills and they also socialize in a respectful and constructive environment.
July 2018, Chess in the Royal School Nja Panda
That same year in July we started a collaboration with Premier Chess and the Make a Difference. The Chess Master Evan Rabin from New York arrived with a group of volunteer chess players to teach a 1 week chess workshop to 50 secondary school students in the Royal Secondary School.
We also played the first interscholastic tournament in the Kilimanjaro region, were 4 children from BTL successfully participated.
2019
By the second year over 200 children in Newland have been introduced to the game, we play tournaments regularly and it has become just another activity for the development of the children. They have the chance to play twice a week during schooldays and the chess club meets on Saturdays.
April 2019, Chess in Uganda
In April we started the first international collaboration with the Robert Katende Initiative, reknowned for Disney’s movie The Queen of Katwe.
One of the original pioneers featured in the acclaimed movie joined our efforts. We organized a 2 week workshop were we taught 80 students from primary one to primary four in Uganda, in the Spanish run school Kelele, near Fort Portal.
All the teachers learned how to play chess, and they did have a blast. We provided special training to continue with the chess club to one of the teachers and to one of the cooks, who showed a lot of interest for the game.
June 2019, Chess in Kikavu
Kikavu is the closest village to Newland, back in the Kilimanjaro region, there we started teaching chess to the children there in June with the goal of extending the game in the area, we organized a two week workshop where we taught 30 children that can now visit the Chess Club in Newland to play against their neighbors.
July 2019 Chess in Uru
The collaboration with Make a Difference continued the next year and we did a one week workshop were we taught over 50 secondary school students. Once more we held an interscholastic tournament at the end of the tournament. This is an article published in Chessbase.
2020
We started the year strong with two new projects in the Kigoma region in west Tanzania. In Kigoma city we taught 20 children in a local kindergarten associated to Born To Learn.
January 2020, Chess in Kabanga
Kabanga holds a boarding center for children with special needs. We taught the game to over 80 children and to two teacher assistants. The impact of the game in the center has been inspiring and we aim to continue in these kind of projects, since chess has proven to be very adequate to their needs.
Chess from now on
The chess activities in the Born To Learn are going strong and they continue to be the foundation for the expansion of chess in the area. Currently we are starting the collaboration with other centers to expand the chess community in the Moshi area.
The goal is to teach children in other schools and to organize tournaments that will allow children to socialize and challenge themselves. It will also be an opportunity for the local teachers to gain experience in new environments.
The Team
Luis Cuerdo leads the chess program in BTL, he is a certified chess teacher that has been collaborating with Born to Learn for the last 4 years and who has been teaching chess all over the world.
However this is not a one man effort, one of the main goals is to get local teachers involved to guarantee the sustainability of the project. At the moment three more teachers from Born To Learn are qualified to teach Chess and to assist in the workshops. They are Frank Mbise, also a music teacher and the Kindergarten and Primary School Teachers Janeth Macha and Irene Silayo
Kilimanjaro Chess 