Theresia

Back in 2019, on exchange at Molde University College, she was a good student teacher and an enthusiastic agent of change. She made brave plans about how to implement human rights of children with disabilities at her working station, after return from Norway. We wondered, how is she doing? Was she still an agent of change?

After almost 12 hours on a bus from Mwanza, and then about three more hours by car we finally reached our destination, Sukamahela Primary School, Singida, Manyoni on February 24 – and there she was! We recognised this calm and dignified young lady immediately. Had she, the only specialised teacher here, been able to make a change?

Although Theresia has only been working at Sukamahela for one year, she has achieved more than anybody could expect.

She now has a class of 11 children with disabilities. She works closely with the parents of the children and goes on home visits, regularly. In addition to teaching the children, and meeting them with love and care, she also does outreach work in the village. She focusses on creating awareness about disabilities, about human rights of children and persons with disabilities, and she encourages parents to send children with disabilities to school. We know that she has also been teaching her colleagues in human rights of children and persons with disabilities.

We saw that Theresia had already achieved a lot, so we asked her what she saw as her most important achievement so far. She answered very clear:

• Removed some of the negative attitudes about disabilities in the society
• Improved life quality of some children with disabilities
• Education of staff at school in order to stop violence against children.

Theresia is also clear about challenges in her work, which she is still facing, such as poor infrastructure, lack of transport for children who cannot walk to school and poverty. If she had, at least, some economic support she would be able to do more outreach work.