As a young girl in rural Zimbabwe, Tererai Trent lived without running water and electricity and had no hope for her future. "I1my father pointing to my brothers and the other boys in the village and saying: These are the breadwinners of tomorrow. We need to2them. We need to send them to school. The girls will get married," she says. "And that was just a (n)3experience for me."
4to learn, this little girl with big dreams5did her brother homework. "I learned to read and write from my brother's books," she says. Soon, Tererai's secret was6, and the teacher begged her father to let her learn.
Tererai attended only two terms before she was forced to7at age 11. By age 18, she was the mother of three. "When my husband realized that I wanted to have a (n)8, he would beat me," she says. "I have nightmares of that time of my life."
In 1991, a visitor9Tererai's life forever. Jo Luck, from Heifer International, asked every woman about her greatest10—something many of them didn't know they were allowed to have. "I remember very clearly saying: ‘My name is Tererai, and I want to go to America to11,'" she says. "And she just looked at me and said, ‘If you desire, it is12.' I was definitely inspired by what she said. I determined to fight for my dream."
Hoping her daughter could break the cycle of poverty Tererai's mother13her to write her dreams on a piece of paper. The 20-year-old placed them in a small tin and buried them under a rock on the14where she used to herd (放牧) cattle. "As a woman without an education, life will continue to be a burden," she wrote. "I15these dreams, and I firmly hope one day to work for the causes of women and girls in16like me."
Tererai not only broke the17—she ended it for herself and her children. In 1998, Tererai moved to Oklahoma with her husband and now five children. Just three years later, she earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural education. In 2003, Tererai obtained her master's degree18.
After every19, Tererai returned home to Zimbabwe,20her tin of dreams and checked off each goal she accomplished, one by one.
