Fruits of labour – Former KIUMA pupil now teaches at secondary school

Athumani Rashid has been a teacher at the Tanzanian wortundtat project KIUMA mid-2013. Following the successful completion of his Bachelor course at the University of in Darussalam in early summer, he is now teaching linguistics and literature. The KIUMA management is particular pleased that Athumani Rashid, a former pupil of the project, has now returned to teach there himself.

The home village of the 25-year old, where Athumani Rashid grew up under simple conditions, is about 170 kilometres away from the KIUMA grounds. A mud hut covered with straw was his home. Light came from Kerosene lamps, his mother fetched the water from a river some kilometres away and electricity was virtually unknown when he was a child.

Four teachers for 300 pupils

But then the young man came to KIUMA, where he attended the secondary school, without being a financial burden to his family. There was no longer any opportunity to have a rest during lessons, but Athumani Rashid didn’t mind. On the contrary: after two years he was chosen for a study course in the seaport of Darussalam, which he swiftly completed. That he now, after graduating from his first course, has returned to his home, has two reasons. On the one hand: “I have learned at KIUMA how important it is to help one another. If someone has something or is able to do something, what the other doesn’t have or can’t do, he or she should share it. Now that I am a teacher, I can be like a mirror: I received help from KIUMA when I was young. Now I am here to give help to other young people.”

Being close to the family