Cambridge student wins life-changing trip to Tanzania

Twenty-one-year-old Cambridge University student Elliot Ross has just returned from a life-changing trip to Tanzania where he had the chance to observe firsthand how Camfed helps girls to stay in school.

The aspiring journalist from Edinburgh was chosen from hundreds of entrants across the UK in the Guardian International Development Journalism competition, organised in partnership with Camfed and seven of the UK’s other leading development charities.

Elliot’s article, which focuses on girls’ education in Tanzania, will appear in the Guardian in November.

“Seeing Camfed’s work has made me realise what can be achieved by a charity that is not afraid to think carefully and seriously about what it is doing and how best to go about it,” said Elliot, who spent seven days visiting Camfed’s programmes in Tanzania.

“I hope I’ve learned a bit more about development,” he said. “I certainly have a better understanding of just how much there is to learn and have had many of my views strongly challenged. I’ve also seen how powerful feminism in Africa can be – and glimpsed how important it might become as a driver for change.”

Elliot, who is studying English at Cambridge and is a past editor of the Cambridge student newspaper Varsity, is now more convinced than ever that he would like to pursue a career in journalism. He is one of 16 finalists in the competition: eight in the amateur student category, and eight in the freelance professional section.

Phoebe Greenwood, a freelance journalist from London, was chosen in the professional category to report on Camfed’s work helping young women in the Samfya District of Zambia to achieve economic independence.

The 16 finalists’ articles – and the name of the two overall winners in each category – will be published in the Guardian in two supplements on Saturday, November 22 and Monday, November 24.

The UK government’s Department for International Development helped to fund the competition to raise awareness about development issues.

Douglas Alexander, International Development Secretary, said: “This competition has motivated a new generation of journalists to write about issues relating to global poverty.”

Find out more about the competition

“A good sign that an organization is doing something right is if you arrive in a remote village two hours late and are met by a riotous crowd of delighted women who march you up a hill singing songs about how pleased they are to see you. This was my experience when I arrived at Ng’ang’ange with Camfed’s Operations Manager, Naomi Rouse, three bumpy hours’ drive from Iringa in Central Tanzania. We were there to meet with local members of Cama – a network of young women supported by Camfed. “I have always wanted to know”, said Remina, Cama chair for the village, “whether this Naomi was a mother or a grandmother. Now, I see she is my sister.”

I came into the trip with some serious reservations about what development organizations like Camfed could really achieve. Back at home, I still find development a bit problematic, yet I also find myself setting up my first and as yet only charitable direct debit – and it’s to Camfed.

What struck me most about Camfed’s work in Tanzania was not the size of their achievement, but its depth. Their numbers are certainly impressive; through their Safety Net Fund, bursary program and Cama’s work helping school leavers start small businesses, Camfed is helping a lot of people in Tanzania. I wanted to find out what this help really means to people. I find the idea of “making a difference” slightly facile. I prefer a more qualitative question: “what kind of a difference?”

I asked a lot of people what they thought was so important about girls’ education – teachers, pupils, parents, officials from the Department for International Development (DFID), people in the Ministry of Education. Perhaps the best answer I received was from someone called Ma Rutta, who helps to identify girls who need Camfed’s support in Iringa. She said: “If a girl is educated she can make her own decisions rather than just letting her husband make those decisions for her. She can know ‘this will benefit me’ or ‘this will not benefit me’ and make her decisions accordingly. That’s why here we say: ‘Education for liberation!’”

Of course, it’s vital that Camfed’s work helps to address key development issues – HIV infection rates, child healthcare and gender disparity in education. I found Ma Rutta’s explanation so interesting because it describes, in a very simple way, how these challenges are best engaged with on the most human of levels – our thoughts, feelings and decisions.”