Maono Namesakes: Maria and Upendo
By Anna Mercer
Nothing is so fulfilling as seeing, in a clear and unmistakable way, the impact of work that matters to you.
Shawn Askinosie experienced this on his most recent origin trip to Tanzania this July. Nearly 10 years ago, Shawn and his daughter Lawren led a visioning session at Mababu Primary. Visioning, the process of writing a description of yourself in your ideal future, is a vulnerable process grounded by hope. A critical part of visioning is sharing your dreams and intentions with a trusted audience. This sharing requires confidence and bravery.
Ten years ago, two students at Mababu Primary had the confidence to share. Upendo and Maria each shared an example of something they had wanted to do in the future, and then actually done. Upendo said she wanted to get a book and read it, and she got a book and read it. Maria wanted to fetch water to take a bath, which she did. These visions, honest and brave, opened conversations and established a path for visioning to become a core part of our work in Tanzania.
Shawn wrote about Upendo and Maria’s bravery in his book Meaningful Work: “Once Upendo and Maria gave their examples, everything came to life. The other girls related to them, which opened up a lot of discussion. The class asked us a bunch of questions, things that I know they would never have asked if Upendo and Maria hadn’t shared their visions.”
To honor their vulnerability and success, the Maono Scholarship has been renamed to center Upendo and Maria. During his most recent trip to Tanzania, Shawn was able to reconnect with Maria while celebrating the 10th year of the Empowered Girls and Enlightened Boys programs. Maria is in her final year of study to become a veterinarian, and Upendo is about to finish her civil engineering degree.
Maria and Upendo’s bravery was the foundation for a visioning curriculum that has touched over 7,000 students to date. Visioning helps connect student’s hopes with plans, behaviors and peer support to realize their future success.
The Swahili word for vision is maono. The Maono Scholarship awards high-achieving students at Matema and Mwaya Secondary Schools with the funds they need to attend pre-university classes. Emanuel Chikoti, who leads the field team that operates the clubs, said that Maria and Upendo’s stories are proof that the Maono scholarship works. He said that “When we say the Maono scholarship really helps the students, it really supports the students, she [Maria] is the testimony of that. We’ve seen her grow into that level and she’s going to graduate this year. When you talk to the students about the maono and the visioning process, now you can see Maria is here, she did this, and she’s now about to graduate.”
Students that receive the Maria and Upendo Maono Scholarship are the top student performers in their school on the Tanzanian national exams. These students use the scholarship to help fund their attendance of Forms 5 and 6, which are required before enrolling in university. A total of 16-20 students receive the scholarship each year.
