Tererai Trent

Tererai now (oprah.com)

Could you imagine growing up without running water, without electricity, or without any hope for an education? Tererai Trent did not have much but took advantage of what she did have, and that was her dreams and goals.

Tererai grew up in Zimbabwe within a small village. She desperately wanted to learn but her job was to cook and clean. So she would stay up late and do her brother's homework until his teacher begged her dad to let her come to school. Those were some of her happiest days says Tererai but they did not last long. She was then married off at age 11 and raising three kids by age 18.

Jo Luck and Tererai (oprah.com)

The summer 1991 would change Tererai’s life forever. That day her village had a visitor. Jo Luck, from Heifer International asked every woman about her greatest dreams. Tererai answered “My name is Tererai Trent and I want to go to America to have an education, I want to have a BS degree, I want to have a Master’s, and I want to have a PhD. Her mother believed in her dreams and told her to write them down, place them in a tin box, and bury it.

Tererai at age 27 moved to Oklahoma with her husband and now 5 kids. After just three years she earned her Bachelors degree in agriculture education and also her Masters. After every dream was accomplished she would travel back to her village and check them off on her paper placed within the tin. Her husband was deported for abuse, but she remarried and now in 2009 Tererai will be receiving her Doctoral degree.

Inspirational talk (oprah.com)

Tererai is a symbol of hope for all young women. She started with nothing and accomplished something that most American women will never see. Tererai makes it easier for me to believe that anything is possible and to never give up on your dreams.