Tererai Trent (born c. 1965) is a

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

an-American woman whose unlikely educational success has brought her international fame.

Background and career

Trent was born in the village of Zvipani in

Karoi District Karoi District is a district of Mashonaland West Province, Zimbabwe. The district is also known as Hurungwe District which extends to Zambian border. The Hurungwe district office are found in Karoi town. Location The district is located in Masho ...

Mashonaland West Province Mashonaland West is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of 57,441 km² and a population of approximately 1.5 million (2012). Chinhoyi is the capital of the province. Districts Mashonaland West is divided into 7 districts: * Chegutu * ...

. She was not allowed to go to her local school, Matau Primary School, as a child due to poverty as well as being female, although her brother Tinashe, an indifferent student, was given the opportunity to attend. She later recalled the men in the village including her father "pointing to the boys in the village and saying 'These are the breadwinners of tomorrow. We need to educate them. We need to send them to school. The girls will get married.'" She taught herself to read and write from her brother's books, and eventually started doing her brother's homework. When her teacher discovered this (because the homework was done so much better than the work her brother did at school) he begged Trent's father to allow her to attend school. She then attended school for a short period, but her father accepted a brideprice of a cow and married her off young. She had three children by age 18 and without a high school diploma. Her husband beat her for wanting an education. In 1991, Jo Luck from

Heifer International Heifer International (also known as Heifer Project International) is a global nonprofit working to eradicate poverty and hunger through sustainable, values-based holistic community development. Heifer International distributes animals, along wit ...

visited her village and asked every woman about her greatest dream. Trent said she wanted to go to America and get a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

, a

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

, and eventually a PhD. Encouraged by her mother, Trent wrote down these dreams, put the paper in a scrap of tin, and buried it. In 1998, she moved to Oklahoma with her husband and their five children. Three years later, she earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural education. In 2003, Trent earned her master's degree, and her husband was

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

for abuse. She has since remarried, to Mark Trent, a plant

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causal, causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when us ...

whom she met at

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. After she earned each degree, she returned to Zimbabwe, unearthed her tin and checked off each goal she accomplished, one by one. In December 2009, she earned her doctorate from

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

; her

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

looked at

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

prevention programs for women and girls in

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

. Her life story was featured in the 2009 book ''

Half the Sky ''Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide'' is a nonfiction book by husband and wife team Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn published by Knopf in September 2009. The book argues that the oppression of women world ...

'' by

Nicholas Kristof Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. Born in Chicago, Kristof was ...

and

Sheryl WuDunn Sheryl WuDunn (born November 16, 1959) is an American business executive, writer, lecturer, and Pulitzer Prize winner. A senior banker focusing on growth companies in technology, new media and the emerging markets, WuDunn also works with doubl ...

, and in an excerpt of that book published by ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...

''. Subsequently,

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

ran a segment on Tererai in the

Oprah Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

episode concerning the book ''Half the Sky''. Oprah sent a crew with Trent back to Zimbabwe to dig up the piece of tin in which she had buried the paper with her goals. Since earning her PhD in 2009, Trent obtained a two-year commitment to work with Heifer International (which paid for her PhD). Also in 2009, she founded the Tinogona Foundation, later renamed Tererai Trent International, which has built several schools in Zimbabwe. In 2013, she received her master's degree in Public Health (Epidemiology) from the

UC Berkeley School of Public Health The University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, also called Berkeley Public Health, is one of fourteen schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. The School of Public Health is consistently rated alongside the ...

. In May 2011, Oprah Winfrey revealed that Trent was her all-time favorite guest, and donated $1.5 million so that Trent could build her own school in her old village in Zimbabwe. The school was completed in 2014. In 2015, Trent published a children's book about her own life, called ''The Girl who Buried her Dreams in a Can'', illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. Her 2017 self-help book, ''The Awakened Woman: Remembering & Igniting Our Sacred Dreams'', with a foreword by Oprah Winfrey, was named the Outstanding Literary Work, Instructional at the

49th NAACP Image Awards The 49th NAACP Image Awards ceremony, presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), honored outstanding representations and achievements of people of color in motion pictures, television, music, and literatu ...

. She has been an adjunct professor in Monitoring & Evaluation in Global Health at

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, S ...

since 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trent, Tererai 1960s births 21st-century Zimbabwean women writers 21st-century Zimbabwean writers Drexel University faculty Living people Oklahoma State University alumni People from Mashonaland West Province UC Berkeley School of Public Health alumni Western Michigan University alumni Women and education Zimbabwean emigrants to the United States Zimbabwean philanthropists Zimbabwean self-help writers Zimbabwean women children's writers