Ganako Secondary School

A critical institution of education in Karatu, Ganako Secondary School sits in the heart of the Ngorongoro Highlands and has nearly 700 students. Ganako has achieved academic excellence with high numbers of students passing their exams and qualifying for higher education.

Michela’s Room, or more formally, the Michela Harriman Dining and Community Hall, is the beautiful centerpiece of Ganako School. As was vision of the Harriman family, Michela’s Room now serves not only as a dining hall, but also as a meeting and event space for the broader community.

The most critical part of the infrastructure plan was to drill a borehole to provide the school with sufficient water. The community water and rainwater catchment systems could not provide adequate water for the more than 700 students at Ganako. The new borehole distributes water to various parts of the school.

Children have more time for their studies and are avoiding illnesses that previously meant falling behind their classmates. According to Joseph Ladislaus, a chemistry teacher at Ganako Secondary School, “Water from the boreholes helps maintain vegetable gardens that supplement school lunches and keep students healthier. Having a permanent source of water has greatly improved performance; we are now ranked 17 out of over 600 schools in the country."