Graduate Update – Neema (’15)

This is a continuation of our series of blogs written by our graduates! These are all girls who had lived at Bibi Mimi’s Girls’ Home on our Kitongo campus, but who graduated from Joseph and Mary Secondary School (several of them among our first ever class of graduates), and are now in various higher education programs around Tanzania! We know that many of our supporters are interested in what these young women are up to these days, so we hope this provides some insight.

We asked the girls to not only update us on what they were studying, but, like any recent graduate, what some challenges were that they had faced since leaving our campus and how they have managed to cope with those challenges. We also asked them to pass on pieces of advice to their younger sisters!

“I am enrolled in a Diploma program in Social Work at the Institute of Social Work in Dar Es Salaam. I wanted to study Social Work because it is the key of my life and it’s a light that leads me where I have to go. After completing my program, I hope to establish my own center that will provide education concerned with reproductive health and life skills, focus on children’s rights and responsibilities, sports and games, art work, and career development.

During my transition time after graduation from Joseph and Mary Secondary School, I learned how to use a computer effectively, I learned more about reproductive health and how to be safe, and I also learned more about personal decision making and how to assess situations I may face and how to know what would be good or bad for me. My time at Mainsprings:JBFC prepared me for this time very well both personally and academically. Mainsprings gave me the strength to be a leader, a girl full of confidence, and how to be a strong woman that can fight any situation. It also gave me a heart for helping others who may need my help.

The most challenging part of living at college is not being allowed to cook in my dorm (I miss this!), living with many different people with different behaviors, perspectives, and visions, and just living away from the environment of Mainsprings: JBFC where I had a lot of constant guidance. I definitely miss the girls, all of the clubs we were able to participate in, the matrons, the environment, and being able to participate in communication between the girls and the management of Mainsprings: JBFC. My advice to the girls still at Bibi Mimi’s is that they have to know that life is not easy – life is full of struggles, but with effort, value, and commitment, they will be able to achieve everything they want to achieve. If they study hard, they can achieve anything. They also have to know that everything requires discipline!”

Neema completed her 1-year certificate program in Social Work at the Institute of Social Work in Dar Es Salaam. She is currently in the second year of her 2-year diploma program. She remains very active in various youth programs focused on life skills.

Categorized in: graduate girls, Mainsprings

This post was written by Mainsprings