My

Story

Ibadi

“I was born in Dar es Salam and my mother raised me on her own. Later I lived at my grandmother’s house and helped her with some work around the house. I decided to become more independent, so I moved from Dar es Salam to Kibaha to start studying to be a kindergarten teacher. I was confronted with a lot of prejudices, because this job is seen as a job for women. I felt ashamed so I moved to Tanga, where I continued my studies, but I still experienced the same prejudices there. I decided to continue anyway as I thought to myself that nobody knows me here and I will do what I want to do. I graduated with good grades but couldn’t find a job. I volunteered for a year in a school. It was difficult to get by, but I could get food at the school during lunchtime and I wrote to a local mosque to see if I could live there for the year. After some time, the parents of the kids asked me if I could do some extra classes, because their children responded so well to what I was teaching them and so I started finally to gain something for my living.

In early 2019, I got the opportunity from a governmental leader in Tanga to attend this Young Coach Education. I was happy to learn from a real professional coach and to not only be teaching the kids with material I found from the internet. After the first and second module I had 25 kids but then I changed the way I teach them and now I have more than 120 kids attending my activities. The training had a big impact on me. I am more creative than before, for example if I am running out of tools, I make sure I have more plans of other exercises I can do. I trained a Peer Young Coach who now helps me and also conducts the training sessions if I am away. Now I also have trustful relations with the parents of the kids, because they know I am an educated coach and that I know how to do first aid if needed.

At the place where I am working, we are facing many challenges. We have a lot of orphans, due to different diseases like HIV or malaria. My role as a coach is now to organise activities and through them teach the children healthy habits and life skills, including HIV and malaria prevention.”