Hajra finished sixth in her class on the first term exams in April. She lives a half hour walk from Ben Bella and thanks S4Si for including transportation costs in the stipend money so she doesn’t have to worry about whether or not she can afford to take the dala dala to school every day. She hopes someday to work in Zanzibar’s Ministry of Education.
Zuwena is one of six children and lives with her mother and her father. Her mother stays at home and her father is a dala dala driver. Zuwena’s favorite subjects are biology and geography. Zuwena hopes to attend university to become a pediatrician.
Fatma lives with her mother, who is a teacher. She does not know her father because he left when she was a child to marry a younger woman. Fatma worked hard in school and her ranking improved from 27th to 7th in her class. She is studying Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
Fatma recently turned 16 and is the youngest of three children. She lives in Zanzibar with both her parents whom she looks up to with great admiration. Fatma is first in her class hopes to become a pediatrician and focus on helping children with malaria. Fatma has an inquisitive nature, brilliant work ethic, and continual yearning to learn.
Sharifa is the youngest of 9 children. She has 4 older sisters and 4 older brothers. Her father is a farmer and her mother is deceased. Sharifa enjoys physics and chemistry, but her favorite subject is math. Sharifa goal is to become an expert in computers and help people gain access to better jobs.
Increases in access to education among girls accounted for a decline of 43 percent in the malnutrition rates between 1970 and 1995.
