Holy Cross has been working at St. Felista’s Parish in Utegi, Tanzania since 2017. Over the past eight years, we have constructed a permanent church structure in each of the right surroundings villages and brought hundreds of people back to the regular practice of their faith.
outstation church image
Six years ago, the people of Utegi had a dream to build a kindergarten at their church where their children could be nurtured at an excellent school in their Catholic faith. Sadly, they never got beyond a foundation.
In 2025, one generous family from the United States approached our Holy Cross community at Utegi, offering to help make the dream of a Catholic Education for their children a reality. For one year, we planned and discerned what kind of school could most transform the lives of our people.
In April of 2026, we broke ground on Eden Academy. We chose the name Eden because our hope is for the is school to help transform our community into a New Eden by beginning with the youngest of our children. In time, Eden Academy will grow into a full preschool and primary school, and depending on the needs of our people even into an secondary school, agriculture institute, or trade school.
We knew that we could not accomplish this alone, and so we began looking for partners to help us implement our vision. In the Spring of 2026, we began our partnership with researchers and experts at the University of Notre Dame. They have helped us develop Our model: Eden Education.
(insert picture of teacher training here)
With the help of our friends at Notre Dame, we want Eden Academy to be a laboratory for a new way to do education in rural East Africa. By investing in this one community that we love, we hope to discover a way to transform the way that we do Catholic education in places like Utegi around the world.