When we first agreed to help Wini, I had hoped to meet with her regularly in person; to get to know her, talk to her about school and life and her plans for the future. But as she attends a strict Catholic girls school, scheduling was tricky. On the few occasions I did get to meet with her, she was extremely reserved and answered every one of my questions with a few barely audible syllables at best.
Before I left for the US/Canada this summer, I had suggested to Wini that we might exchange weekly letters which her father would shuttle back and forth for us. When I returned last week, I was pleased to find four letters to "Mrs. Duncan" waiting for me; as I suspected, she proved to be a lot more animated in her letters than in person.
Wini writes about her two best friends, including one from her hometown whom she’s known all her life, “Even our parents know about our friendship.” She writes about how they spend all their time together, “studying, making stories, listening to music, playing netball and discussing our future life”. She writes about her performance on the Mock Examinations which are meant to prepare them for the real thing in November: “...the results have come out, these results are not very much good.” She writes about the strict sister who rules their school with an iron fist, “She is so harsh when you do things against school regulations,” and about her favorite teacher, Sir Nelson: “He teaches us life skills, how to live with people, how to overcome the problems of adolescence age.”
Her letters make me smile, what an “average” teenage girl she is in so many ways. But at the same time I know that she is not average at all in Tanzania--approaching 20 and not yet married or a mother, and with the great privilege of being able to consider her options for the future.
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