My name is Nicyoribera Marie Grace. I am 33 years old, married and a mother of 3 children (2 girls and 1 boy). I come from a small village of the Cyeza sector called Kigoma. Some time ago, my husband and I discussed the future of our family and the result was that I should go to school with a view to running something in the future which would go towards increasing our family income. The decision was not an easy one for me to take. There were many things to think about.  First of all it was a long time since I had left the school! Who would take care of my family? The Vocational School is very far!  But in the end I found a solution to these problems and in 2008 I started my training at Centre de Formation Père Vjeko - course in tailoring. And now I am in my second year and soon to finish the course.

I often ask myself how I manage all this!  First of all my home is very far from the school. I have to walk for 5 hours a day: 2 and a half hours in the morning to reach the school and 2 and a half hours in the evening on the way back home.  I have to wake up at 4.40 a.m. and prepare the children myself. Then I leave them at my mother’s place to be taken care of, until my husband picks them up after his work.  

I really appreciate my husband’s conduct during my days at school. He is very helpful/understanding???  I reach home very late in the evening, around 19h30 and I have no time, therefore, to do any house work.  And so when he comes back home around 17h30, he prepares supper, fetches water and does all kinds of domestic chores.

This is not easy for him because in our village, husbands normally behave like lions in the forest. They cannot do anything at home.  They think that women were created to do all kind of domestic works on their own.  Some even think that he is abusing our culture.  But my own experience, which is different to this, is that a family cannot reach its fullest development without participation from all members of the family: husband, wife and children too.

All those obstacles do not discourage me. I am enjoying school life very much and I am looking forward to joining my family full time as they are really missing me.  Then I hope to find a job that will help improve my family’s situation.