Beatrice

Beatrice is a diligent and hard-working young woman who lives in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, with her parents. She is the youngest of four in her family. Her father has a petty business that brings in little income and is not sufficient to feed her whole family and pay for school. As a young girl, she was very ill, affecting her schooling and causing her to miss classes. Having health challenges was hard for her personally and also created further financial challenges for her family. She had to take up various jobs like selling peanuts, but through that time, she learned to pray to God and be patient and she “experienced Him lifting her up and giving her strength.”

Beatrice was born into a Christian family and grew up attending church. However, she came to truly know Jesus at Young Life camp, after her friends invited her to Young Life club, Bible study and then camp. She learned to read God’s Word and pray. She also started loving church again and is now a volunteer Young Life leader.

As a recipient of the Developing Global Leaders scholarship, Beatrice is studying social work at the Institute of Social Work in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She wants to be a social welfare officer, “prioritizing the overall well-being of individuals and helping in fields like child welfare, aging services and corrections.” Beatrice was described by her leader as “on a quest to do extraordinary things.” She expresses that her ideal job would be to encourage social change and cultural development in her city and country by impacting one individual at a time. She will be the first person in her family to graduate from university.