Unfortunately, the Tererai Trent story is not that common
- Lloyd Mufema
- Sep 13, 2020
- 8 min read
Updated: Sep 13, 2020
So, my wife recently told me a depressing story that made me to do quite a bit of reflection. I believe I have lived long enough to conclude that life is unfair. By the way, who said it was ever meant to be. Faith in God sometimes becomes the consolation in that the Almighty knows humanity at an individual level and the experiences that everyone goes through. In His wisdom, he chooses how and when He intervenes in our lives. There are certain stories that cut deep. Stories that make one to count their blessings after realising that there are people out there who going through the most.
Privilege has always been seen in the context of black versus white, with the black race being seen as the previously disadvantaged. Unfortunately, most of the interventions to bridge the gap have not trickled down to the most deserving people. The already advantaged blacks continue to benefit at the expense of those deserving such assistance and it is the children who suffer.
The story goes like this: A girl called Tsitsi (not her real name) who comes from a poor family in rural Chipinge in Zimbabwe was “sold” at the age of three to a certain family with the intention of her become wife to the spirit mediums. She had to leave her family to go and stay with the family that “bought” her until she would reach the age to assume her role as wife. At the age of fourteen, she was impregnated by the sixteen-year-old son of the man who “bought” her (I will call the son Tendai). Tendai’s father was not happy with this development and this caused conflict within the family. Tsitsi ended up losing her child. She went on to get married to Tendai. They had four children, two boys and two girls. She lost the two boys. Tendai’s father later passed on but he died a bitter man that Tsitsi had not fulfilled what she had been “bought” to do. This haunted her marriage until Tendai sent her away. As I write, she is now thirty years of age, no education, lost three of her five children and divorced. It gets worse, every single day, she says Tendai’s father appears in her dreams reminding her that she was meant to be his wife, which is the main reason why her marriage to Tendai broke down. Sounds like fiction huh? At the age of three, did Tsitsi have a choice to say no? Even as she was growing up, let us assume she was not comfortable with this arrangement which obviously would have been the case, but where would she have gone to find refuge when her family had willfully given her away?
As I was reflecting on this story, a couple of thoughts came into my mind. In this race called life, others are racing in Ferraris, others start thousands of miles ahead while others are racing with their feet shackled. Spending my early childhood at a mission hospital in rural Zimbabwe where my mother worked and from the regular visits to my rural home, I have seen many disadvantaged people. Sadly, such people are expected to make it just like anyone else barring the fact that they would need to do it at triple the effort. Does the world care or pay attention, maybe but I believe more needs to be done. I will briefly highlight the struggles that children in certain societies have to conquer in order to make it like others who do have to face such obstacles.
Religious practices
In 2016, Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court outlawed child marriage and consequently, no one may enter into any marriage before the age of eighteen. However, there are certain religious sects in Zimbabwe that still practice child marriages. In most if not all cases, it is the girl child who is at the receiving end, often being married to much older men. In 2017, statistics say 32% of girls in Zimbabwe were married off before they turned eighteen (approximately one in three!). 4% were married before they turned fifteen. As a result of this, their dreams are curtailed. Despite the laws in place and advocacy from civic organisations to fight this problem, a lot still needs to be done to give the girl child a fighting chance.
Certain religious sects prohibit their members from seeking medical care from health institutions including child vaccination. As a result, child mortality rates are still comparably high for certain diseases that should not be killing children in this day and age. Again, it is a case of children being denied a chance to life and mapping their own course.
Poverty
Forty years after independence, it is sad to acknowledge that the poverty levels in Zimbabwe are still astonishingly high among the populace. A 2017 report by ZimStat pointed out that 71% (over 10 million) of the Zimbabwean population lived in poverty. Extreme poverty numbers were 30,3% in rural areas compared to only 5,6% in urban areas. This means that certain families do not have the means to give their children proper education. Consequently, many children from poor families drop out of school. It becomes a vicious cycle as dropping out of school more likely than not leads to early marriages. So again, children from poor families are born into a fight which they are supposed to fight with their hands tied.
The state of some schools especially in rural Zimbabwe as well as the in farms formerly owned by white farmers is shocking. This ranges from lack of basic infrastructure such as decent classrooms to textbooks and teaching aids. Yes, parents may sacrifice and manage to send their children to school but the odds are heavily stacked against them to succeed. How can a child fulfil their dream of becoming a doctor when the school they are attending does not have a reasonably equipped science laboratory if at all the school has a laboratory? We are living in the era of the fourth industrial revolution but in many of the schools, children have never touched a computer! How then are they expected to be relevant? I have not even mentioned the long distances that children in some communities have to walk to school including the battle to cross flooded rivers during the rainy season and the cold they have to brave during winter. If they overcome all these challenges and are able to go to school, they are expected to work in the fields when they come back from school thus only getting a chance to study in the evening. Oh, but wait a minute, there is no proper lighting so how on earth are they expected to study at night? Again, the odds are stacked heavily against millions of children. How are they expected to fight when they are blind folded?
Enter Doctor Tererai Trent
Her story is an inspiring one which has been told many times and gives children from disadvantaged backgrounds hope that there is a fighting chance. Tererai was born in 1965 in a village called Zvipani in Rural Zimbabwe (which is coincidentally where I also come from). Against all odds, having been sidelined from getting an education because she was a girl child, her father marrying her off at the age of eleven, enduring gender based violence at the hands of her then husband, to having three children by the time she was eighteen, Tererai’s story gives hope for the disadvantaged. Today, she is a holder of a PHD, a published author, a philanthropist and a humanitarian. The icing on her inspirational story is that she had a statue built in her honour in New York in 2019! This is not a mean feat considering that only 3% of statues in New York are for females. She founded the Tererai Trent International whose aim is to build schools and promote quality education for all children irrespective of their gender or financial background. Her foundation has built eleven schools and provided education for over five thousand children. Oprah Winfrey granted her US$1.5 million to rebuild a school in her village (Matau Primary School). The last time I visited my rural home in January this year, I made a detour to this school and marveled at the transformation that she brought about. This is a story that proves that though coming from a disadvantaged background, it is still possible to fight.
Good as it may be, we should also be realistic in acknowledging that unfortunately, a story like Tererai’s is not as common as we would want it to be. This means that for many children, if at all they dare to dream, their dreams quickly disappear like the morning dew. This is as a result of a combination of factors, some of which have been outlined above. The sad part is that we do not choose the families we are born in. Some of our successes would not have materialised had we been born in different circumstances and background. How much of a fighting chance did Tsitsi have? Now at thirty years with a deeply traumatic past and still in the same impoverished background, what chances does she have of changing her life’s story going forward? As I conclude, I will give a few suggestions of what can be done to give every child an equal and fighting chance.
Interventions by government
What determines the strength of a nation are the opportunities it gives to its youth. As much as laws are in place, it is disheartening to note that child marriages are still being practiced today. This calls for greater effort by government in enforcing these laws otherwise without such, it is not helpful to the children these laws seek to protect. About 38.9% of Zimbabwe’s population is estimated to be comprised of youths under the age of fifteen. This calls for huge investment by the government in education and other policies aimed at uplifting the youth. This includes providing the necessary infrastructure and resources in rural schools to benefit disadvantaged children. No one should be disadvantaged from accessing decent education because their parents cannot afford. Judging by the way the government currently allocates resources, this is not impossible, but it will require a rearrangement of the current priorities. Government policies to alleviate poverty among the citizenry should also be intensified as there is an inverse relationship between poverty levels and opportunities for children.
Advocacy by civic society
Civic society can and continues to play a huge role in conscientising communities to move away from certain outdated cultural practices many of which disadvantage the girl child. There is need for research and studies (academia can help in this regard) into practices of certain communities and societies as a way of crafting or making recommendations to government on how children within these communities can be emancipated.
You and I
Reading this piece is most likely a sign that you are privileged, at least compared to the picture I have painted above. What have we done to ensure that the children within our extended families or spheres of influence get a fighting chance? We can assist financially or with advice on where funding or relevant assistance can be secured. We can also educate our families or communities on the ills of child marriages and other outdated cultural practices. It is the small contribution by each of us that will transform a generation. This is quite important considering that educating one child has the potential effect of lifting generations that will come after that child out of poverty and the reverse is true. Having fought from a disadvantaged position and conquered, Tererai Trent saw the importance of giving other children the chance that she was denied. With the knowledge that you and I could equally have been that child who was never given a fighting chance, we can take it upon ourselves to make the small difference that we can.
Conclusion
Now at the age of thirty, Tsitsi’s life has been ruined because she was never given an opportunity to shape her own course. Painful stories of how the lives of many children in Zimbabwe have been shuttered are yet to be told. The prevailing economic environment has further worsened this plight. This is not only a Zimbabwean story but a plight across Africa. Many though blindfolded, shackled in the feet and with hands tied, continue to fight. Often, they require much more effort because they are fighting from a disadvantaged position. Some make it but many fall by the wayside. Who knows, maybe the children who were never given the chance are the ones with the ideas that could have changed the world, and that thought hurts!
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