All photos by Beatriz Pleités
“Have you ever had an experience so powerful that you can feel yourself changing in real time? That’s what it’s been like for me here,” says Beatriz Pleités, MA SID’23, of her practicum experience at SEGA Girls’ Secondary School in Morogoro, Tanzania.
Last fall, Pleités worked as a development and communications intern at SEGA, which is home to approximately 300 girls. The school’s mission is to support quality education, life skills, and entrepreneurship to help vulnerable girls in Tanzania become leaders in their communities.
Pleités, who is from El Salvador, learned Swahili during her internship, and in turn she taught the students English and Spanish after their classes. Connecting with the students and telling their stories was enlightening because, while she enjoys celebrating the cultural differences, she says it’s also important to recognize that not everyone has the same opportunities in life. Pleités says some of the students are pressured by their families to marry before they are ready, which interrupts their education and career goals.
“I come from a developing country myself, but when one of the students sought my advice after her parents asked her to get married, I realized how different my adolescence was from theirs,” she says.
Pleités adds that, despite the challenges the girls face, their positive spirits and acts of kindness inspire her every day and give her hope for the future.
Before saying goodbye, one of the girls told her, “Milima haikutani lakini binadamu hukutana,” which translates to “mountains don’t meet, but humans do.”