Iconic mentor-mother Kamm

Dar es Salaam. They are Tanzania’s power women—well read. connected and respected. The members of this club of achievers include Dr Asha-Rose Migiro, Dr Mary Nagu, Dr Mwele Malecela, Dr Helen Kijo-Bisimba, Dr Julie Makani, Ambassador Mwanaidi Maajar, Zuhura Muro, Anne Kilango-Malecela, Ananilea Nkya and many others. And then there is a battalion of ministers, permanent secretaries, members of parliament, diplomats, judges, activists and entrepreneurs who have made a mark.

All these women passed through the magical hands of Maria Josephine Kamm, the larger-than-life headmistress of the Moshi-based Weruweru Girls’ secondary school from 1970 to 1992. And, yes, they called her Mama and she addressed and treated them as her daughters.

In her 22 years at the helm, Mrs Kamm accomplished what none of her contemporaries came close to. Now 76, she is in control of her faculties and has a razor-sharp memory. At the school formerly known as Assumpta College, almost every child she mentored became somebody in life.

Speaking at a symposium on Thursday to celebrate “Weruweru Girls Golden Jubilee: 50 years of living the dream”, Mama Kamm opened up on the tricks of trade that put her in her own league.

In 1964, after completing her Bachelor’s degree in the United States, she returned home to do what she loved most—teaching. She also taught at the Bukoba-based Rugambwa Girls Secondary School and the Moshi-based Machame Girls Secondary School.

She turned down a job offer from the University of Dar es Salaam to remain with her girls as was the case in 1978 when she was appointed the chief inspector of schools. “I had a deep, true love for the girls,” she says. “I gave my life to the youth of this country.”

Mrs Kamm was a woman on a mission with passion. By 1954, she was one of only nine girls who had completed Form Two in Tanganyika. So when in 1965 she started working as a teacher in girls’ schools, she knew that was exactly where she was needed most.

But what did she know that other school administrators did not? At the height of the education for self-reliance policy, Mrs Kamm concentrated on mentorship and shunned teaching for the purpose of passing exams. She was bent on producing future mothers and leaders of the nation.

To achieve that, Mrs Kamm made herself “mother” to every child who went to Weruweru. In this role, she worked tirelessly to unleash the best in every girl and erase all the traditional stereotypes against women.

A five-minute inspirational talk at the assembly every morning and one-to-one talk with every girl who needed help worked magic. And she knew everyone by name and character—along with their parents or guardians.

Tasked by the nation to interpret and implement education for self-reliance policy, Mrs Kamm chose work ethic as the benchmark, discipline as the only channel and excellence as dictum. At the school, equality was essential.

Self-reliance would be achieved via entrepreneurship which, at the school, meant physical labour. And so Weruweru chicken fed the University of Dar es Salaam in those days and maize from the school shamba produced an average of 1,000 sacks every season, which earned the school lots of money.

She recalls how, for years, she pleaded with the government to expand the school to Advanced Level in vain. The government argued that the meagre resources were being spent on districts that had fewer or no secondary schools at all.

When she said the school could build the additional classes and dormitories with its own money, the government gave a quick nod and the construction was completed within nine months. “Girls, you did that with your own sweat,” she announced at the alumni meeting amid thunderous applause.

She continued: “I know some of you regarded the strict rules and hard work as torture. But I knew you would later remember me for that. I am very proud of you.”

At a time when Tanzania’s education system is under scrutiny after last year’s disturbing 60 per cent failure rate in the national secondary school exams, Maria Kamm’s success story is worth telling. Dr Mwele Malecela, distinguished researcher and director-general of the National Institute for Medical Research, believes that Mama Kamm’s secret was recognising that human beings will excel where and when they feel accepted, loved and appreciated.

“There were daughters of ministers, me included, daughters of peasants from the remotest corners of the country and even Rosemary Nyerere—daughter of the president,” she adds. “But you couldn’t tell the difference as we all felt equal.”

According to Dr Helen Kijo-Bisimba, a human rights activist and the executive director of Legal and Human Rights Centre, one-to-one counselling sessions with Mama Kamm, disciplined teachers who loved their job, strict orders, cleanliness and a can-do attitude bred confident, assertive, determined and responsible citizens.

“She was a teacher in the full sense of the word,” said Justice Patricia Neema of the High Court, who also served for seven years as a trial attorney at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. “We all had to wear school-made uniforms even during outings. No one looked superior or inferior. I came to appreciate this later in life after learning how destructive the socio-economic-driven ego can be if it is not controlled.”

That is Dr Maria Kamm for you—teacher, mentor, inspirer, entrepreneur and a politician who served in the Tanganyika Legislative Assembly and went on to be a Member of Parliament from 1990 to 2000.