You could hear a pin drop in that conference room on the 6th and top floor of the Doubletree Hotel in Dar Es Salaam. It was Friday, January 31, 2020, and there were more than two dozen of us seated around the large u-shaped table. No one moved a muscle or even dared breathe heavy so as not to miss a second of this young man’s quiet-yet-impassioned speech.
“I am here today,” Isaac said so softly I had to lean forward and put both hands behind my earlobes to hear his voice, “because of the will of God.” Long silent pause. “There is no other explanation.” Long silent pause. “My challenges have been too great. They told me I was nothing.”
At 21 years old, Isaac Moses Mwimbabi is the oldest of our 2020 class of 30 new A-Level Unite Scholars. He was also the hardest for us to find. Isaac comes from the Rukwa Region of Western Tanzania, which borders Lake Tanganyika, the DRC and Zambia. In his tiny sub-village of Mnasa, homes are made of mud, sticks and dung. There is no electricity, no phone service, and no public water taps. Just wide open skies and streams dirtied by cattle and discarded garbage. There are no roads, which means no buses. There aren’t even any bicycles. Instead, women and children are the human mules who struggle under the weight of hauled water, firewood and oversized loads. Families eek out meager existences as subsistence farmers cultivating small patches of arable land. Most people in Mnasa are born, live and die there. Witchcraft is rampant and sacrifices to spirits and ancestors are common attempts made by uneducated minds to explain the inexplicable and control the seemingly uncontrollable.
Isaac is the third of four children born to illiterate peasants. His parents, Moses and Happy, grow maize, cassava and beans, and, like all small-scale farmers, they rely 100% on the rains for their harvest. Having never been to school themselves, they saw little value in education. However, the hope of having one educated child who might free them from the vicious cycle of extreme poverty inspired Moses and Happy to beg and borrow enough to send Isaac’s oldest brother to government school and on for a certificate in teaching. However, Isaac’s brother never found a job, and at 27 he spends his days laboring in a nearby rice paddy. “My parents lost all hope after putting everything they had into my brother,” wrote Isaac in his application essay to our Unite Scholars Program. “They never got anything in return.”
For their second born, a daughter, Moses and Happy had no money for school, so she was married young for a small dowry of livestock. Today, at 23, Isaac’s sister lives in Mnasa, not far from her parents’ hut, with her husband, also a peasant farmer, and young children.
As soon as he could walk, Isaac spent his days laboring in the fields alongside his parents and siblings. But he had a dream of being educated, so he begged and pleaded for a chance to go to school. Finally when Isaac was 10, his father sold a goat to buy him a school uniform and a few basic supplies, and Isaac was able to attend the nearest government primary school – a two-hour journey by foot.
For the next three years, Isaac woke long before dawn, trekked to school, and returned home long after dark. With no money for kerosene, Isaac was never able to study after sundown. Yet somehow he performed well and showed promise. But then life turn another turn for the worse when his mother delivered his sister Neema. During her birth in a rural clinic, Neema suffered an unknown trauma that nearly took her life and left her permanently disabled. Today, at eight years old, Neema cannot walk or talk. She drags her small body around in a makeshift crawl, and her mother carries her most places she needs to go.
Faced with the reality and crushing burden of a sick child, Isaac’s father decided to lighten his family’s burden and sent Isaac away. He found a man in the Morogoro district of Central Tanzania who agreed to take on Isaac as a domestic servant. In exchange for Isaac’s slave labor, Isaac would attend a nearby government primary school. This man became Isaac’s guardian.
While his new life was exhausting, lonely and full of challenge, Isaac was thankful for the opportunity to study, and by the end of primary school, he served as an academic prefect and earned As in all of his classes. Isaac’s excellent performance secured him a spot at the prestigious government secondary school Mzumbe; however, he still had no money for transport, uniforms, books, school supplies, mandatory fees, etc. His father begged Isaac’s guardian for help, and the man agreed to do what he could.
During his years at Mzumbe, Isaac was quiet and hardworking. While he mostly kept to himself, he did participate in the school’s Anti-Corruption Club, and “through this club,” Isaac wrote in his application essay to Unite, “I became wise to the fact that corruption is the enemy of human rights and development at all levels.”
Over the course of Isaac’s four years at Mzumbe Lower-Secondary School, he left campus only once. The rest of the time, when all the other students traveled home for the holidays, Isaac stayed back alone doing chores for teachers in exchange for food. Even after his Form 4 graduation in November 2019, it took Isaac nearly four weeks of working odd jobs before he was able to earn the ~$4 necessary for him to purchase a bus ticket to Sumbawanga, the town nearest Mnasa with a bus stand.
***
Back in the conference room, Isaac continued his speech: “God created the world through words.” Long silent pause. “So what kind of words are you going to use? Words that build or words that break? Watch your words… They will define your life.”
It was after 4:00 PM now and I was starting to feel a bit anxious about getting our Scholars on the road as I didn’t want them out and about in Dar es Salaam after dark. And it had rained all day, which meant that the roads and the traffic would be worse than normal. And I was specifically worried about Isaac. Like most of our new Scholars, this was his first time in this sprawling East African city of more than 6 million people; however, unlike the others, it was also his first experience in any town larger than a few thousand people.
“In closing,” Isaac said, “I want to thank Unite. I know that love is the origin of Unite, and love is everything. Through love we can find success and cooperation. We humans were created to depend on each other, but never before has anyone held my hand. Now, with Unite, I will reach the mountain peak of success, and I will encourage others who suffer and struggle to do the same.” Long silent pause.
“And to you, Unite, in return for your gifts to me, I give you my love, my cooperation and my words.”
***
The time had come to send our Scholars back to their local host families before they would start their long journeys to their homes across the country the next morning. For Isaac, his journey to Mnasa was the longest; it would take him three days with numerous buses, motorbikes and long walks.
When I went to hug him goodbye, Isaac leaned in and whispered, “Anne Wells, this was my first time ever speaking in front of people. I am afraid that I didn’t express myself well.”
“Oh my goodness Isaac,’” I said far too loudly, smiling bright. “You were absolutely magnificent today!” And then, without thinking, I laid my hand softly over his heart. “We all love you, and you very much deserve to be here. Sawa? Ok.”
Long pause. “Sawa Anne Wells.” “Ok,” Isaac replied, as silent tears spilled from his big brown saucer-shaped eyes.
***
I told Isaac that he is now a beloved member of our Unite family, and I meant it. Today, Isaac is home with his family in Mnasa until June when we will bring him back to Dar for a two-week-long training program with all of our Unite scholars from across the country before they all begin their Form 5 academic years in July. Isaac is now working on a few detailed budgets and proposals for Unite – one for a wheelchair for his sister and another for an interest-free loan to launch a small businesses that could help alleviate some of his family’s burdens.
It is our intention to help Isaac and all of our Unite Scholars grow into the talented leaders of tomorrow who can help bring an end to extreme poverty, ignorance, poor health, corruption, environmental degradation, violation of human rights, and so SO much more. And to get there — to reach these BIG goals — we need ALL the help and support we can get.
Ours is one world. Like me and you, Isaac — and his struggles, talents, hopes and dreams — matters.
NOTE: Following this Unite Scholars’ kick-off meeting in Dar, Unite’s program director Anty Marche sent Mzumbe Secondary School’s Headmaster Wenceslaus Kihongosi the photo above of Isaac and Anne. Wenceslaus was in shock. He texted back: “Oh my God, I am crying here. You have done wonders. You have opened this boy’s world.” Anty called Wenceslaus to inquire further, and Wenceslaus said that the boy he knew was always sad and hiding. He said that this is a photo of a confident, contented young man. He called this photo proof of “a miracle.”
Isaac (far right) and a number of Unite teammates and fellow scholars outside the Doubletree Hotel before loading up in our rented vehicles to start their journeys home.
ABOUT OUR UNITE SCHOLARS PROGRAM
We have long since known that people who succeed have at least three things in common: “Unusual ability,” “exceptional zeal” and the “capacity for hard labor.” * And it is these traits that we look for in our Unite Scholar candidates. We are seeking uniquely talented youth who have somehow beat the most crushing of odds. Not only must they have achieved the extremely-difficult ranking of Division 1 on their Form 4 (~10th grade) National Exams, but they must have demonstrated leadership potential and a proven dire financial need. With their applications, they submit transcripts, videos, essays, letters of recommendation, family histories and financials, and more.
Once our scholars are admitted in to our highly-competitive program, Unite covers all of their expenses for higher secondary or A Levels (Form 5 and Form 6), which is about the equivalent of 11th and 12th grades in America. We pair each scholar with a trained Unite mentor who is in regular communication with them all year long and supports them with their personal, academic, social and emotional challenges. We host our scholars regularly in leadership and “soft skills of professionalism” trainings organized at various centralized locations across Tanzania. We challenge our scholars to participate in Unite talent shows, to speak in front of international audiences, and to join such volunteer campaigns as tree planting and business development planning for impoverished widows. We embrace each scholar fully into our Unite family — an ever-growing international network of talented youth, professional advisors, trained mentors, passionate teammates, renowned partners, dedicated donors, and others… all of whom are committed to excellence and to service to humanity and planet Earth.
*Source: GRIT by Angela Duckworth, page 21. Francis Dalton ’s first scientific study about the origins of high achievement, 1869.
Isaac’s photo that he submitted to Unite with his application in December 2019.