Staff Reporter
Surely hard work pays, and this true for Zimbabwean-born academic who is based in the United States of America, Dr Tererai Trent after she was shocked to learn that a life-size statue of her would be unveiled in New York City, in the United States of America.
For a long time, the women’s place was believed to be the in the bedrooms and kitchens but it is a different case with Trent as she defied the odds and made it far to an extent of standing tall in the New York City as her statue was unveiled.
Hailing from Mashonaland West Province, Trent who earned her PhD in the United States where she is now a teaching professor in health at Drexel University, told BBC news channel that no one had taught her to read and write but she did that by herself while growing up in the then Southern Rhodesia.
She said that, “I’m just so humbled and it is unbelievable. Can you believe I am standing so tall in New York City? We know that only 3% of the statues in the city are female. My great-grandmother, my grandmother, my mother, they would never have dreamt of something like this.”
During the Rhodesian era, blacks were being deprived of their right to education especially young women. The educational opportunities during the colonial era were extremely limited for girls as compared to boys but she remained resolute and focused as she embarked on the journey of self-realization and that education is the way to go, despite facing certain circumstances like poverty.
“There were so many things that shaped the denial of education for young women like me – poverty being one of them, and the colonial system that never valued education. Growing up as a girl in Rhodesia meant that the educational opportunities were extremely limited when compared to boys,” she said.
In the whole village, only men could read and count, and the majority of women could not and yet some of these women were brilliant women, they had no exposure to education.
Despite the fact that young women were being deprived of their right to education, Trent did not just sit down and be contended with, but rather she would go after her brothers’ books and went on to teach herself the alphabet.
She added that, “I was fired up. I really wanted to be able to read, seeing these pictures and these words. We never had books based on Rhodesian or Zimbabwean experiences – they were all from Britain or elsewhere. And I wanted to go to those places! But, I went there through the books I was reading”.
Trent is a victim of child marriages who at the age of 18 she already had 4 children. Her family preferred boys education and she was married off young as she was deemed not worthy to go to school, together with other girls. Rather, she put her dream to achieve more in life in a tin which dream came true years later!
An Educationist herself, she appeared on Oprah Winfrey Show as her most powerful testimony of all time as Oprah was ending her daily show, and she was supported to build a school in her rural home.
With her Tinogona organisation, Trent formed Tererai Trent International, sometimes referred as Tinogona, a foundation which seeks to give back to the community providing quality education in rural communities of Zimbabwe. The foundation was formed in 2009 and it has built several schools in Zimbabwe putting forward the right to education for young Zimbabweans.
Trent continues her journey of advocating for education for all children and building schools in Zimbabwe.
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