Sunday, November 15, 2009

Lady Luck smiles on Tererai

Walt has been down on Zimbabwe and NGO "agents of virtue" recently, so passes along with pleasure a story referred by Agent 17. It's from Nicholas Kristof, an op-ed columnist for the New York Times.

It's the story of Terera Trent, who, at age 23, was enduring the miserable existence of a Zimbabwean village girl. I should say woman, for she had already been married for six years to a man who beat her, as is quite common in rural Zimbabwe.

Just by chance, she met an American lady with the improbable name of Jo Luck, a worker with an NGO called Heifer International, which was trying to do some good in one of the most hopeless countries in the most hopeless of continents.

Tererai began working for HI, and with their help eventually came to America. Her dream was to get not just a university education, but a doctorate. And so it comes to pass. Next month, a one-time impoverished cattle-herd from Zimbabwe with less than a year of elementary school education will don academic robes and become Dr. Tererai Trent.

Click to here to read the full story.

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