A student’s life at Sega. Part A

A personal story (as written by April, a previous volunteer, with some editting by me).

Subira Mohamedy is a 15-year-old “pre-form” student from Morogoro. The pre-formal program is a 6-month prep program for students who have passed their primary school exam but are not quite ready for secondary school. They will take a readiness exam before they are admitted to Form 1 (equivalent to 8th grade in Canada and the first year of secondary school in TZ) in January.
Subira passed her primary school exam in January of this year but was not able to enroll in secondary school due to her family’s lack of funds. She thought school was over for her. Her father, a subsistence farmer, died of an illness in 2004 when Subira was 7 and she told me that his death and her sister telling her she could not continue in school earlier this year are the two worst things that have happened in her life. Subira has three brothers, ages 31, 24, and 18 and three sisters, ages 28, 20, and 8. All her older siblings completed Form 4 (O levels) but most of them have no work. Her mother and one brother are farmers. One other brother sells products at the market, and the other three older siblings don’t work. Subira had heard about Sega school from other girls she knows who are students here so she decided to apply. She passed the exam to get in and moved into the dorm at Sega in July, having been out of school for 6 months.

 

Subira (L)is a member of the Temba Club (Elephant club)  pictured here on a club outing to the nearby game-park to view elephants and learn more about them.

Subira is one of about a dozen Muslim students in this school of 164 girls. She loves to study and her favorite subject is science. Her mastery of English is noticeable amongst the other students, showing how much she studies and practices.  She is looking forward to taking biology, chemistry, and physics in high school and her dream is to be a doctor someday. She also likes to play netball (sort of like basketball but no dribbling, only passing) and enjoys Bongo Flava music, though the girls have no way to play music in the dorms so only get to listen to it when there is a “music day” at Sega and the cd player and speakers are set up, about once or twice a month.

Subira said that she is hoping that if she studies hard, she will be able to get a good job. As a doctor, she would like to help everyone who is sick and if she is financially successful, she wants to help her family by building a house for her mother and providing many other good things for her and the rest of the family.

Subira also loves to draw and volunteers to create cards for the USA sponsors, the previous volunteers and anyone else she can write to...so I know she is generous and kind-hearted and would make a wonderful physician. We can’t be sure, of course, whether Subira will achieve her goals but she is reportedly the hardest working girl in her class.  Good luck to Subira for a wonderful future.