Pupil Advera

• Origin: Geita, Mwanza
• Date of birth: 04.10.2008
• School leaving certificate: Primary school (graduated 2023)
• Tribe: Msukuma

Ever since Advera was little, she has dreamed of sewing. However, after finishing primary school, she was unable to attend secondary school. So she tried her luck in distant Arusha, where she found work as a housemaid with a nice family. They live near the Engoitoi Epuan school and allow her to attend sewing classes during the day, so that she can do her housework in the evenings and on weekends.

Pupil Emmy

• Origin: Osinoni, Ngorongoro
• Date of birth: 15.08.2003
• School leaving certificate: Secondary school (graduated 2020)
• Tribe: Maasai

After graduating from secondary school, Emmy was unable to attend further education for financial reasons. Her father therefore decided to marry her off. Emmy did not want this and fled to the town of Karatu, where she found work as a maid for a family. They treated her as inferior because she was only a maid. She did not enjoy working and living in Karatu, but felt compelled to do so. Since leaving home, she had only visited her family once, but her father immediately resumed his plans to marry her off, prompting Emmy to flee again.

Emmy dreams of standing on her own two feet, supporting herself, and helping her mother and siblings escape poverty.

Pupil Ester

• Origin: Kimnyaki, Arusha
• Date of birth: 20.08.2006
• School leaving certificate: Secondary school (without graduation 2024)
• Tribe: Maasai

Ester's father died when she was in primary school. Since then, the family's living conditions have deteriorated dramatically, as Ester's mother has had to provide for herself and her seven children on her own. She sells vegetables at the local market, but her modest income is often not enough to cover the family's basic needs. As a result, Ester was unable to complete secondary school because her mother could no longer afford the tuition fees.

Ester would like to open her own tailor shop in Arusha and start a small family at a later date.

Pupil Grace

• Origin: Hanang, Manyara
• Date of birth: 23.04.2008
• School leaving certificate: Secondary school (without graduation 2023)
• Tribe: Miaturu

Grace's parents did not attend school; her mother is a housewife and her father works to support his family. Unfortunately, his modest salary as a day laborer, which he earns by breaking stones into gravel, is not sufficient. Therefore, Grace was unable to complete secondary school. Instead, she sought work in a small guesthouse in distant Arusha.

Grace would like to open a small sewing studio close to her family and thus return to her roots.

Pupil Happy

• Origin: Kimnyaki, Arusha
• Date of birth: 20.08.2006
• School leaving certificate: Secondary school (graduated 2023)
• Tribe: Maasai

Happy lives with her four siblings and four adopted siblings with her parents near Arusha. Apart from not being able to attend school, Happy was happy with her family and friends.

Happy would like to open a small tailor shop in a place where there are few other seamstresses. Once her business has taken off, she hopes to start a family, combining motherhood with her work.

Pupil Maria

• Origin: Kirtalo, Ngorongoro
• Date of birth: 08.04.2007
• School leaving certificate: Primary school (without graduation 2018)
• Stamm: Maasai

Before her final exams at primary school, Maria, aged just 10, was supposed to be married off. On her mother's advice, Maria fled to Kenya, where she lived with her older sister for five years. During this time, she never went home because she was afraid of being married off immediately. Later, from mid-2023, she was given the opportunity to work as a housemaid for a family in Arusha.

Maria wants to become an experienced seamstress who runs her own business in Arusha and earns enough to support her mother.

Pupil Monika

• Origin: Ngarwa, Ngorongoro
• Date of birth: 23.03.2003
• School leaving certificate: Secondary school (graduated 2020)
• Tribe: Maasai

When Monika started primary school, the family was entirely dependent on her mother's modest wages as a day laborer in the fields. Her father was already old, addicted to alcohol, and left the family after repeatedly becoming violent towards her mother. However, her mother worked so hard that Monika graduated from secondary school with flying colors in 2020. Unfortunately, her education ended there because she lacked the financial means to continue her studies. The lack of prospects weighed heavily on Monika.

Learning the tailoring trade makes Monika happy. Finally, she can learn and empower herself.

Pupil Rosy

• Origin: Seuri, Arusha
• Date of birth: 06.06.2003
• School leaving certificate: Secondary school (graduated 2023)
• Tribe: Maasai

Rosy lives with her family near the school in Engoitoi Epuan. She has always enjoyed going to school. However, limited financial resources and frequent arguments between her parents meant that Rosy often missed classes. Nevertheless, she passed her secondary school exams and, on her father's advice, subsequently sought work as a domestic servant for various families. However, she did not like this work because she felt she was being treated unfairly by her employers.

Rosy dreams of being independent and using what she has learned to provide a good life for herself and her future children.

Pupil Salome

• Origin: Olore, Iliboru
• Date of birth: 25.11.2005
• School leaving certificate: Secondary school (graduated 2023)
• Tribe: Maasai

Salome lives with her mother and siblings in a suburb of Arusha. Her father left the family when she was 11 years old. This hurt her deeply and she misses having a father. Her mother and older brother enabled Salome to complete secondary school. However, continuing her education was not an option for financial reasons. So Salome helped her mother with the housework and looked after her younger siblings.

Salome wants to become a wonderful woman who lives in love with her future husband, raises their children together, and contributes to their joint livelihood through her work.

Pupil Siyama

• Origin: Oljanomelok, Ngorongoro
• Date of birth: 29.02.2005
• School leaving certificate: Secondary school (graduated 2022)
• Tribe: Maasai

Although Siyama successfully completed secondary school, she was unable to continue her education due to financial constraints. She therefore tended her family's livestock. Her father decided it was time to marry her off. Siyama refused and opposed her father's plan. Although he accepted his daughter's decision, he disowned her and withdrew from his role as her father.

Siyama would like to open a sewing studio in the small town of Karatu and later live with her husband and children. She hopes to combine family and career.

Pupil Trina

• Origin: Kimnyaki, Arusha
• Date of birth: 25.01.2006
• School leaving certificate: Primary school (without graduation 2021)
• Tribe: Maasai

Trina was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and has since moved back and forth between Kenya and Tanzania. She mostly lived with her alcoholic mother and her two younger brothers. Her father married another woman and paid little attention to his first family. In July 2022, Trina's mother returned to Kenya once again. Trina decided to stay in Arusha with her two little brothers. She tried to earn a living by selling bananas, which proved difficult.

Trina wants to give her two brothers a better life and enable them to get an education. Since she herself would like to raise many children one day, she wants to study and work hard.