Mwajuma’s Story

Mwajuma is a very confident young woman with great communication skills. She is bright and at high school she was head girl.  Mwajuma home life was altogether more challenging. Her father occasionally has work as a builder’s labourer but work is scarce. Her mother breaks rocks for construction, one of the lowest paid jobs earning less than two cents (USD) to break 12kgs of stones.  It is hard and dirty work which impacts the labourers health.  The family of 7 live in a small two room house so that Mwajuma was forced to live with her neighbours where she cleaned and cooked to pay for her accommodation.  Sadly the welcome has not always been welcome and she was under constant pressure, not least to leave which would inevitable meaning living even further away from her family.

In such financial circumstances further education was clearly impossible.  Thankfully her former teacher had heard of WEEDO and recommended that she apply to join the programme which she did for 2021. Not surprisingly, Mwajuma excelled and made the very most of her opportunity.  In addition to her own studies Mwajuma became an informal counsellor to many of the girls, so much so that we have retained Mw on the WEEDO staff. She continues to support the welfare and social work staff and has proven particularly adept at communicating with the parents of the girls to help the girls overcome challenges and issues at home.  With her communication skills, and as a beneficiary of the programme, she has also become an ambassador for the programme in the community and on social media.

Mwajuma is currently using her salary to build an extra room at her parents home so that she can move back to the family.  In the medium term we think she will utilise her communication skills and interest in business and clothing design in business.  For now though we are really pleased that she has joined the staff and is helping to meet the emotional and social needs of the girls.