PROFILE : Nothing beats the strength of a determined woman

Aneth Gerana, 31, is a mother of two young children, Baraka,3, and Beatrice who is one year and eight months old. You can not tell that Aneth is deaf until you talk to her.

The social development officer, who is the project coordinator at the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children’s Development College was not born deaf. She lost her hearing when she was four years old.

The hearing impairment, as a result, made Aneth’s journey to where she is today, one full of challenges. But despite the hurdles she encountered during her education life, the bold woman never despaired but soldiered on. Otherwise, it would be a different story today.

She narrates her inspiring story to Sound Living.

Aneth’s deafness was caused by an ear infection when she was four and given that her parents were poor, they never sought professional advice in time. When they finally consulted a doctor after Aneth’s hearing deteriorated, it was too late.

“With nine children to take care of, my parents could not raise the money to take me to hospital the moment they realised I had a problem. By the time they took me to the hospital, the doctor confirmed I was completely deaf,” Aneth explains through an interpreter.

When she became of school-going age, her parents had to raise money to take her all the way from Kigoma to a special needs school in Tabora. It was in 1993 when Aneth enrolled in standard one at Furaha primary school. According to her, the school had all the facilities needed in a special needs school and so learning was not a problem at all.

When she completed primary school in 1999, she was selected to join Ruvu Secondary School in coast region. Unlike the school in Tabora, Ruvu secondary school did not have facilities to cater for special needs students like herself. Neither did it have teachers trained to handle such students.

“You can imagine how tough things were. I depended on reading notes only as none of the teachers or students understood sign language. I therefore spent most of my time reading and thank God I graduated with a Division III. But this was not good enough to get me a place in a government school for advanced studies,” she says.

Determined not to end at ordinary level, Aneth travelled to Dar Es Salaam and went to the ministry of education to ask for help. She explained her situation and asked to be considered for high school since her parents could not afford the fees at a private school.

After countless visits to the ministry, her wish was finally granted. Aneth joined Iringa Girls High School in 2004. She was also promised a special teacher, a promise that was however never fulfilled.

“Life at Iringa girls was also full of challenges since I was the first student with such a disability at the school. Again reading notes helped me through the two years at the school,” says Aneth.

Tough times in university

Aneth completed high school in 2006 and passed with a Division II. She thereafter joined the University of Dar es Salaam for her Sociology degree studies.

According to Aneth, it took the University of Dar es Salaam’s management a whole year to notice they had a student with a hearing impairment. The management assigned a special lecturer for her the moment they learnt about Aneth’s condition.

However, the lecturer did not stay long since he had to go for further studies after a year. This meant Aneth had to miss a number of lectures since coping was hard. Frustrated and confused, she would at times lock herself in her room and cry over the situation.

After three difficult years at the university, she finally graduated in November 2009 with a degree in Sociology. Like other graduates, Aneth started to hunt for a job but it was difficult getting one. The situation was compounded by the fact that employing her meant she needed a sign language interpreter. No employer was ready for that.

When two years passed and there was no sign of getting a job, Aneth thought of a plan B. She mobilised fellow women with the same disability as hers and together they formed an NGO called The Joy of Women Entrepreneurship for the Deaf. The aim of the organisation was to enable these women to be economically independent.

“We did not have an office when we started so we requested for one from Temeke Municipality. We got our first sponsor, Finland Abilis Foundation in 2010,” says Aneth.

The NGO comprised of 15 women with hearing impairment. These women enrolled for training in entrepreneurship at the Small Industries Development Organisation where they acquired skills in making peanut butter, wine, mixed fruit jam, mango pickle, soaps, batik, and many others.

Although she is now employed, Aneth still does entrepreneurship with her group, a business that augments her income. She says the group members are happy since they can now earn an income.

Before she got her current job, the juggling mother secured a job with Tanzania Youth Alliance (TAYOA) as a web advisor and data manager for the organisation’s website in 2011.

Because officials at TAYOA knew about Aneth’s condition, they gave her a written interview of which she sailed through.

“Since then God has been very faithful to me as in 2013, I applied for a Development Officer position with Sengerema District and luckily got the job. I worked there for one year before I was transferred back to Dar es Salaam, at Ilala district council,” she says.

In Sengerema, it was during oral interview session that the district officials realised Aneth could not hear. The officials were kind enough to let her do a written interview once again. When she got the job, Aneth says there are people who thought she had only been favoured.They even did not believe she was a degree holder.

It was in October this year when she was transferred to the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children’s development college. At the college, Aneth coordinates all projects, especially those aiming at creating a friendly environment for people with disabilities.

Juggling mother

Looking back, Aneth is happy that despite the challenges she encountered through her education, she has been able to make a contribution in society by helping uplift the lives of women facing the same challenges as hers.

But how does she balance family, work and entrepreneurship? Aneth says although it is not an easy thing to do, her family comes first always. She puts things in order at home first before engaging in any other business. Her day starts at 04:30am where she does the laundry, cleans the house, checks her side business orders and puts everything in place before leaving for work. She supplies her business products to her customers after work. She advises people with disabilities to work hard so as to be able to put food on the table.

Asked how she manages to communicate with her children, Aneth says it was difficult in the beginning but slowly, her oldest son Baraka who is only three years old is getting used to sign language. When he wants something from his mother and she doesn’t seem to understand him, he goes straight to whatever it is that he wants and touches it!

Aneth’s husband is a sign language interpreter (he is not deaf) and he to a great extent helps with the communication.

Aneth says in the beginning, the child would call him and when she did not respond, he would touch her and she would realise he needed her attention. Given that she communicates with their father through signs, the little ones are slowly coping. And for the customers, communication is done through writing when sign language proves difficult.

Aneth thanks her employer who has promised to give her an interpreter soon. For the time being, she does duties that do not require too much communication like typing reports, letters and writing proposals.

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