Mary Tembo.

31st July 2016:

This is Mary Tembo, who is 16 and finished Form 1, who lives a 40 minute walk from her school in Mchengatua Secondary School 
She lives with her aunt,  because her mother has a mental illness since her father died, with her 2 sisters and 1 brother. Her aunt has her own family, which makes it hard to manage fees for her.  She is not working or doing any business, but her aunt’s husband is doing some piece work to find money to support the family. So Mary is facing challenges. 


Term 1
Agriculture 42%
Bible Knowledge 28%
Biology 48%
Chichewa 32%
English 34%
Geography 40%
Home Economics 64%
Life skills 75%
Maths 20%
Social Studies 84%


Term 2
Agriculture: 24%
Bible Knowledge: 39%
Biology: 20%
Chemistry: 28%
Chichewa: 34%
English: 34%
Geography: 26%
History: 23%
Life Skills: 28%
Mathematics: 21%
Social Studies: 54%

Looks like her class size increased from 54 to 78 and her position increased from 51st to 46th. The great thing is that she has lasted the year, without pregnancy or the slavery of early marriage (second or third wife syndrome). We try our best to keep girls like Mary in school. She is an amazing girl and so determined, but her life is as hard as anyone can imagine