DailyNews Online Edition

Adinani sees education as his exit from poverty

It is from saving some of the proceeds he gets from his petty business that Adinani Kombo hopes to pay for his studies. Here he (centre), helps a customer at Ukwamani Maize Market in the district, to choose a piece of sugarcane. (Photos by Iman Mani)

ONE person who holds fast to the belief that education will take him out of poverty is Adinani Said Kombo of Ugulodi Village in Gairo District, Morogoro Region.

The 22-year-old, a second born of three siblings, told the ‘Daily News on Saturday’ that this is the only thing that gives him hope of having a comfortable life in the future.“I don’t see how I could reach my goals without having a strong education platform to build from,” he said in an interview recently.

However, the challenge which lays in front of him is a lot more than he would like, because despite his confidence there is still a lot to be achieved before he can say he has passed the poverty trap. He was successful to have passed his Standard Seven examinations at Gairo Primary School, but he soon found out it takes more than this and hopes to attain success.

His goal was to get out of the miserable life, of having to struggle everyday only to wind-up at the end of the day equally in need of basic necessities like food and water. It was in such a mood that he went on to the neighbouring region of Dodoma Secondary School, for the next four years. With all the hassles of studying and no form of assistance other than what he got from his mother, Adinani was able to complete his spell there with a pass in Division Three.

This enabled him to move-onto Jamhuri High School in Dodoma Region for his Advance levels. Up until this time despite the hardship he was going through, together with his mother to continue with his studies he was able to finish last year. Unfortunately, he only got a Division Four pass, which meant the only way he could continue with his studies was to cover the full brunt of the cost, which was beyond his capacity.

“My father had gone away a long time ago and left us with our mother. She only had her small farming and petty business to depend on. We were only able to give her some physical help when we were out of school. Obviously, this affected our studies but there was no other way for us to cover some of our basic needs,” Adinani said.  

The ‘Daily News on Saturday’ had met him selling sugarcane and cabbage at the Ukwamani Maize Market in Gairo District on Thursday. He said this is one of his best business days because it is on this day every week that traders come from near and far with their goods, bringing new life to the large open ground, just off the Dodoma Road, a few kilometres after passing Gairo Township.       

Getting into the petty business world was the only path he saw in front of him, after finishing high school. His pattern of work now is to travel through the villages buying maize, which he brings to the large market within his ability, where he would sell for a small profit. 

On other occasions instead of maize he would buy groundnuts and go through the same process. When it was not possible for him to find a partially loaded vehicle that was going to where he wanted he would have to pay the full transport charges himself. This meant less profit for him; he says, but thought it better to a have a little profit than none at all.

A big load would be around 20 sacks, while a small one is not less than ten sacks. Throughout the talk with Adinani, he continually maintained that his intention is to save enough money so that he could resume his studies. He believes that his mother had done enough to bring him to that level, so it was up to him to find a way of continuing without her involvement.

“After all,” he added, “she still has to provide for my younger brother, who is in Form One at Gairo Secondary School. My elder sister has moved to Singida Region where she is married. It is only me who has to work to get the money to continue with my education because it is me who refuses to stop at the level I have reached,” he said.

It is his desire to study law if he gets through. He has explained to his girl friend that it is important he returns to his studies because this is the only way he sees he will be able to beat the poverty trap, which has gripped most of the people in the neighbourhood. This, he says, she has agreed with him. His mother is also wishing that he makes it.

“My father ran away when I was 15 years old. This was after he had got another woman friend. We never had much of a relationship anyway, for he never asked me nor my brother or sister anything about school,” he said, as if simply stating a piece of fact, which had nothing to do with him.

On Tuesday he takes his goods to the market within the district called Gairo Juu. It turned out that this young man does not directly sell everything he brings from the villages himself but entrusts a few other people with a small quantity, who pay him after they have sold whatever it was they had taken. They usually have a written agreement between them.

He also spoke of his favourite subject  being history because he understood the subject. There is also the element that he is very interested to know of  past times, which gives him an idea as to where things are heading to. One of the things that made Adinani stand out at the market on Thursday is his ability to speak quite passable English which, he says, he learnt at school.

This is one of the things, which has suffered much, from a lack of use since he finished high school last year. He believes that if his desire to resume his education is successful he will have to spend extra time revising his English so that he could be able to fully understand what is being taught and what he will be reading from the books.

One thing he is doing which keeps him a little up-to-date is have regular classes on the topics that he understand better for his younger brother and some of his classmates. At least all of his time is not going to selling maize or groundnuts.