‘I worked at tea farms to fund my education’

Hazel Marimbiza
Last week marked Africa’s Women’s Day and one of the objectives of the day is to honour African women who have succeeded in life despite the odds.

As such, Sunday News caught up with Bongai Munguni who had a hard time attending school because at that time society did not see much value sending girls to school.

Her quest to attain an education in the early years of her life was sour but now it has turned sweet as she is about complete two Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) studies.

Munguni (31) was born in Chipinge, Ngaone village and began her primary education in 1997. All was going well with her education until her father died and she had to relocate to Mozambique.

“After my father died my mother relocated to Mozambique where she was farming in order to fend for the family. I had to go and stay with her while my three brothers remained in Zimbabwe. We stayed in Mafuse village which is in Manica Province,” she said.

While her brothers continued with their education back in Zimbabwe she could not continue with her primary education in Mozambique.

“The nearby school hardly had teachers so I opted to go to school in Zimbabwe,” said Munguni.

But getting to school in Zimbabwe was strenuous for Munguni who at that time was 10 years old.

“I was in Grade four and I would wake up at 5am every day. There was no time to bath. I would just wash my face and then go to school in the same clothes which I had slept in. I would just cross over the border areas with ease as locals used to do on either side of the border. When going to school I did not walk but I would run barefooted for about four hours to reach the school in Zimbabwe,” said Munguni

She said she would not carry any food because she did not want luggage since she would be running. “So I just spent the whole day without eating but in some seasons there would be wild fruits in forests so I would eat those,” said Munguni.

Other challenges she encountered included arriving late in Zimbabwe – at 9am whilst school would have started at 8am. “The school head and teacher used to beat me for being late. One day I explained that I have to run from Mozambique to attend school and that is when they understood and stopped beating me,” said Munguni.

After school she would track back home and arrive at around 1900hrs. But this did not bother her much as she focused on the brighter side.

“As a young girl I was zealous to learn and I was happy to be going to Zimbabwe to learn because there were books and good teachers,” said Munguni.

However, when she was in Grade six things changed and she dropped out of school.

“After school I could not go back home because we were studying for longer periods so I would sleep at a friend’s house but that didn’t please my family so I had to drop out,” said Munguni.

Although she spent a few years out of school, she was studying by herself at home and she managed to register for her Grade seven examinations in 2004 and she passed.

However, in 2005 she had no money to enroll for form one so she had to work in tea farms in order to go to school.

While she worked in the morning in the afternoon and evening she would be studying until she managed to write her ‘O’ Level exams in 2008. She passed her ‘O’ Levels and again she did not have money to proceed with her ‘A’ Levels so she started working as a maid for different people but in her free time she would be studying.

“I studied my ‘A’ Levels for about seven months from October 2010 to June 2011 and went on to write my exams.

Luckily I passed and in October 2011, I was awarded a scholarship to study for a degree at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ). In June 2014, I completed my studies. I then enrolled for my Masters Degree at UZ in September 2014,” said Munguni.

“After attaining a Masters Degree in 2016, I got a scholarship in 2017, to study for a PhD in Economics at the University of Cape town in South Africa. Also in 2019, I got another scholarship to study for another PhD in Social Policy at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. So I am happy that I will be a holder of two PhDs,” she added.

Asked about her future aspirations she said: “I want to be a professor very soon. Also my dream is to find ways of uplifting my community. Currently I managed to raise funds to drill a borehole in my community but I want to do more. I especially want to build schools in my rural home because most children find it hard to go to school yet education is one of the fundamental keys in unlocking their potential.”

And for those girls in difficult situations but want a better life she said: “Work hard and go ahead and dream because dreams do come true.”