Faridahs. story is interesting. All through secondary school, Faridah had made it her job to be my Winnie’s assistant and was just phenomenal at it. When I met her in 2005, she was extremely quiet and shy, though very bright. She worked with Winnie during a two-day laptop training class I had with them and Faridah was a little quicker on the uptake than even Winnie. We were together for several days and I don’t think I got 20 words out of her.
A couple days after the training, it was time to take Winnie back to school. She called to ask Faridah if we could pick her up to take her at the same time; only then did Faridah break the news to Winnie that she didn’t have enough money to return to school! He dad is a Boda-Boda driver (motorcycle taxi) and hadn’t raised quite half what was needed. All those days with the big Mzungu and she didn’t even ask for herself.
Of course, I covered the difference and we picked her up to go with us. We stopped by to meet her Dad, who was very appreciative (he wasn’t 40 yet, but looked in his 60s; a hard life). Since then, I have committed to being her Da’s ‘pertner’ in her education and I will say, he keeps coming through with what he can. He’s an honorable man.
This visit with Faridah was great. She is more outspoken and confident, with a boyfriend I didn’t get a chance to meet. She even asked for- and naturally got- one of my suitcases and one of my torches. She wants to be a nurse and would be a real natural at it; I’ll see her through secondary for another year or so. .
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