Silvia and her husband are farmers and traders. Her husband works as a farmer, while Silvia is a business woman.
Silvia’s biggest challenge as a parent of four was having her daughter drop out of school. A child dropping out of school is a major stress on a parent, especially when it is a girl child. Silvia saw this as a loss of direction. The lack of education for Tanzania children threatens to destroy a child’s future completely.
A terminated education, for many girls, is linked with early marriage, poverty, and greater health challenges.
Another challenge parents faced in her area was a lack of cooperation in child-raising. In her community women were expected to be the ones taking responsibility for raising children.
When Silvia’s daughter left school, she was extremely worried.
“What I fear is that my daughter, the only daughter I have, has dropped school, and she doesn’t want to continue or even repeat classes next year,” she says. “This thing has broken my heart so much because I don’t know how her life will be, I don't know how she will live in this world. I have always wanted the best for my children and that is why I and my husband and I are working so hard to make sure we give them all the basic needs that they want. I don’t want my children to suffer or live a life that we as their parents lived before, because we did not get a good education.”
Silvia believes that her life and her children's lives were positively impacted by her decision to join a Purpose Group. This decision enabled her to learn about saving. She saved money to take out a loan so she could build a modern house for her family. The new house allowed the children to study very comfortably compared to when she was living in a mud house which was small and dark.
This was only possible after the decision she took to join the Purpose Group. Without her Purpose Group community, she probably could not achieve her dream of giving her Tanzania children a better education.
She has committed herself to becoming a business woman by selling bananas at different markets in her district so that she can support her family financially and give her children everything that they need.
Silvia believes that a valuable lesson from her own life is that you should always help people who are in need, always work hard, and never give up in life no matter how hard it is.
Silvia says, “My children are actively participating in various family tasks, washing dishes, maintaining environmental cleanliness, and caring for poultry and goats. Especially my youngest who stays here at home with me most of the time.”
She concluded by appreciating the years that she has been a member of a Purpose Group, which has been so valuable to her and her family's life. She is more concerned with her children's education, and she dedicated more effort to earning for her family.
