Creating opportunities in Tanzania

In January, we brought you the news that Camfed had identified 50 young women from some of the poorest families in rural Tanzania to take up places at teacher training college. In fact, we’re thrilled to announce that, with your support, we have been able to offer support to 84 young women to attend this fast-track one-year teacher training course.

At the beginning of next year, these young women will be teaching in schools throughout Tanzania, helping to provide a much more female-friendly environment for children in a school system where less than one in three teachers are women.

“It’s important to have female maths teachers. Girls think they can’t do maths, but they really can. It’s good to have female teachers so that girls are not afraid.” Anna Joyce, trainee teacher One of these young women is 21-year-old Shida Abdallah, who was eager to take up her place at teacher training college when we wrote to you last month. She has now started her course at Tandala Teacher Training College in Iringa.

Another young women who is benefiting from your support is 19-year-old Anna Joyce, who grew up close to Lake Victoria in northwest Tanzania, the second eldest of five children. Anna spoke to Camfed’s Programme Officer Naomi Lovett:

“I feel really great to get the chance to go to teacher training college, because I want to be able to support my younger siblings and to help my community. I want my life to be good. I want to develop. I don’t want to have to struggle every day to survive.”

Inspired by one of her own maths teachers who was careful to make sure that everybody understood his lessons, Anna has decided that she too would like to teach maths.

“It’s important to have female maths teachers. Girls think they can’t do maths, but they really can. It’s good to have female teachers so that girls are not afraid. I have overcome a lot of challenges and I never expected to reach this far. But now I have put these challenges behind me and there are so many things I want to achieve in my life.”