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Daniel N, 20 years old.

- He has the mind of a visionary -

Daniel was born and raised in a very remote village in Babati. He is the 2nd child in a family of 8 siblings. Growing up in a village that offered not much exposure to the outside world – he developed a dream to become a doctor one day. After 7 years of trekking more than 4 km every day to school, he finally sat for the primary school national examination in 2017 and was selected to join a nearby public secondary school. His excitement to go study science in secondary school was shattered when his father denied him the right to continue with school. Instead, Daniel was sent to Arusha to work as a caretaker of household gardens and cattle. His father made sure that no one asked questions about Daniel's schooling.

With a sunken heart and lost hope, Daniel, at the age of 15 years started a new life of taking care of his parents and his brothers and sisters. He was expected to send money every month to his parents. After 4 years of working for a meager wage, a good friend of Daniel introduced him to the Independent Study program at Jifundishe. It was the best news ever for Daniel. He immediately decided to enroll in the program as a QT (Form 1 and 2) student in 2021. It was like a candle in the darkness that stirred back his dream which was frozen for years. Daniel committed to coming to class every day at 9 am after working as a caretaker in the morning. He was able to sit for the form two national assessment and qualified to be enrolled as a PC (form 3 and 4) student in 2022.

Daniel did not forget his parents and siblings; he kept going back to Babati to see them. Little did we know that during all these visits, Daniel was trying to convince his elder brother (a standard 4 drop-out) and his younger sister who is now 19 years to come join the I.S program. Because apparently, Daniel was the only one in his family who had made it to secondary school education. In October 2022, Daniel brought his younger sister (the 4th born) who had just completed standard 7 in Babati to come and join the 12weeks Primary School English Tuition program at Jifundishe. He was worried that she might end up like his other sister (3rd born) who completed standard 7 and was forced to go to work as a house-help in another Region. Fortunately, Daniel's sister (Rebecca) who had joined the Primary school English Tuition program was also identified as a suitable candidate for the Houston Scholarship Fund (HSF) at Jifundishe. The HSF provides full scholarships to girls who have just completed standard 7 in a public primary school and come from families that would not otherwise be able to take them to secondary school. Rebecca is now happily going to school in a public secondary school nearby her home in Babati – kudos to her brother Daniel for introducing her to Jifundishe. Rebecca wants to be a fashion designer.

This year (2023), Daniel doesn't feel he is ready to move on to the advanced level of secondary school (form 5 and 6). So, he has decided to do another year at the PC level and take the form 4 National Examination again. He wants to go into medicine as a strong science student and he strongly believes that nothing can stop him from pursuing his dream this time. He will continue to juggle his time between work as a caretaker, school at the I.S program, and counseling his younger sister and brother to consider joining the I.S Program – he doesn't want to give up on them, because his goal is to rewrite his family's narrative from a poor family that has no one with secondary school education to a family of intellectuals who will bring positive change in their family and community in general. This boy has the mind of a visionary and it's because of committed and passionate people like you who take their time to make other people's lives beautiful and full of hope.

Thanks to GlobalGiving and all stakeholders for supporting the work at Jifundishe.