Author: Juma Mussa Mnbi
Juma is currently working with Discover Tanzania tours
My name is Juma Mussa. I come from a family of two children; my young brother and I. I am twenty-five years old.
I grew up at Mtowambu Village since i was young, with my mum and grandparents. I studied my primary education there at Mtowambu from 2000–2006. In 2007 I decided to pursue my secondary education at Rift Valley Secondary School.
Before I attended Secondary School, I went to the ward council asking for financial support. They agreed and wrote a letter to Head Master of the school. I studied for 1 year. When I was in form two [10th grade], the Head of school kicked me out of school because the ward council hadn’t paid even one shilling of my school fees. One of my friends, Emanuel Julius, told me about Asante Africa Foundation because he was sponsored by Asante. He directed me to meet with a woman named Bibi Olla. I explained to her about my problems and asked if she could support my studies. For good luck she told me to bring back my exam results and I did so, and my performance was good. Then she took my picture and sent it to Erna. After that she told me to go back to school with the written document from her. Then Erna came up to our school and talked to me, after which Bibi Olla told me I would be supported by Asante Africa Foundation in my studies. For real I was so happy for that news. This is how I came to know Asante Africa Foundation.
Juma is mentoring Asante Africa Foundation scholarship students at Orkolili secondary school.
I joined LEI for the first time in Kenya and a second time in Tanzania.
What I learned is how to map my dream, how to become a good leader, how to face peer pressure, drug abuse, and different challenges and how to overcome them, how to budget money, how to become a good entrepreneur, and how to avoid diseases.
The knowledge that I got not only changed my life but also changed the life of my mum and other people who are close to me, like friends, relatives and other students, because I taught them what I learned during LEI.
Juma is one of the students who participated in translating Khan Academy videos into Swahili.
I paid it forward by teaching my friends the effects of drug abuse, because many of them were using drugs and alcohol, and they stopped. The second time I attended LEI as a peer educator, teaching the new students about leadership, dream mapping, budgeting, entrepreneurship and HIV/AIDS. I have also been visiting Asante Africa students at school many times with Albert, to supply their scholarship materials and deposit their school fees. I supported two of these students with visitation and became their role model. They did well on teaching two schools here in Arusha.
To share my dreams: First I want to become a professional tour guide and driver. Next I want to own a big company of tourism — that is my greatest dream and I will start kidogo kidogo [little by little]. Someday I also want to become a businessman, transporting and selling cash crops in a different areas.
