Tendai
Zimbabwe
Tendai is one of three sets of twins. She was born in Zimbabwe and was supported by CAMFED.
Tendai's friends would often share their pencils, snacks, and notebooks with her. In 2010 CAMFED supported her education by paying her school fees. In 2015, she was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis and ended up in the hospital for 6 months just before her exams. In 2016, she took the exams and received the highest score possible.
Tendai had a dream. She wanted to help make other TB (Tuberculosis) patients feel hopeful. She visited the hospital that treated her own TB and talked to the patients about her recovery. She made sure they felt like they were still part of the overall community, even though they were ill.
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Tendai wants to complete seven years of school to earn her medical surgery degree and would like to specialize in female reproductive health care. Girls who are going to school and have period cramps are sometimes forced to leave class because of the pain. Tendai would like to find ways to ease their problems.
She is a member of the CAMFED Association, and she hopes to change her community for the better with her knowledge in the medical field. She organized a toilet-cleaning project to help keep her community clean and safe. She cleaned up garbage in her neighborhood and worked to convey information about COVID-19 so people could stay informed and healthy. Tendai says, “As a health practitioner in the making, I want to help keep the environment clean.”
During her time off, Tendai talks to girls who are working on their lower secondary examinations about the subjects they are choosing for their upper secondary classes. She also talks to other students about their education and gives them suggestions about work and becoming successful. She advises young girls to go into the science field, since many girls in Africa think science is for boys. Tendai tells them about her job and helps to inspire them to be whatever they want to be.
A CAMFED teacher of Tendai’s told her about a way to connect with girls in her former schools. Now that she is a medical student, Tendai hopes others see that her community helped her achieve her dreams.
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Story courtesy of CAMFED, an organization dedicated to helping women and girls through education and leadership across Africa.