For Christmas this year, Mary is visiting her brother and his wife in the town of Mbeya, three hours drive away from the home Mary shares with her mother in Iringa, in western Tanzania. Here, she talks about the way she prepares for the holidays. (more…)

When Mary was in primary school, her father passed away, leaving her mother to raise seven children by herself on her wages of $8 a week. In 2003, her house burned to the ground, and the family lost everything. Consequently, when Mary passed the exams to move up to secondary school, her widowed mother did not have the funds to send her. Mary was overjoyed when Camfed stepped in last year to provide her with all the support she needed to continue her education, including a uniform, stationery and exercise books.

Without Camfed’s support, Mary says she would probably have ended up in Tanzania’s capital looking for work as a housegirl, a fate that befalls many young women in rural Tanzania, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Instead, she is now fourth in her class of 53 students, as well as being a school prefect. Camfed will continue to support Mary for the next four years, until she has finished secondary school.

Here, in the first of several installments, Mary gives us a glimpse into her daily life in her Tanzania.
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