January 28, 2016
While she is already a familiar face on the TFFT team, we would like to introduce to you our new Country Director, Melissa! She has spent five years as our Teacher Training Manager, and we are so excited to see what she will do as Country Director. Here we have Melissa’s thoughts on making the shift from Teacher Training Manager to Country Director, her journey before working for TFFT, and her goals. Thank you, Melissa!
I have held the Teacher Training Program Manager position for the past 5 years, and I am proud of how much it has grown and what it has achieved. The decision to make the shift to Country Director was not an easy one—the Teacher Training Program is my baby, so to speak, and I am attached to it. I am very much a programs person who enjoys being on the lead, but also doing the implementation, and that is where the difficulty of the shift lies—the fear that as Country Director, I would have no program to implement. Of course it is a total change, with different focus in terms of work and responsibilities. But that is also the motivation for the shift—to grow and be challenged and stretch myself beyond my comfort zone.
I love how the wonderful Gail Tsukiyama, novelist and writer for WaterBridge Outreach, put it when I broke the news to her: the Teachers Training Program will always be my baby, even if someone else is holding its hands. Now I have to work hard and make sure that in my capacity as a Country Director I make the best decisions and strategies to make it and the other TFFT programs grow even more robustly.
I have worked in various capacities within the education field throughout the past 20 years. Education is my passion and I strongly believe in its power to change people’s lives. I spent most of those 20 years as a teacher trainer and curriculum developer. This work took me to the hinterlands of the Philippines to work with community educators, to Malawi to help in the rollout of their new curriculum by training their government primary school teachers and education advisers, and here to Tanzania where for the past 5 years I have been engaged in training teachers from both private and public schools.
I was once like the children that TFFT sends to school, and so being with TFFT makes me appreciate how I have come full circle in my life. I was a recipient of a 4-year full university scholarship from a foundation made up of a group of people from my hometown who banded together to help poor but deserving students receive a university education. I was their first scholar. I have them to thank for changing the course of my life. There were no strings attached to the help that was given to me—no loan to be repaid, but I want to believe that through the work that I have done and am doing now with TFFT, I am paying the help forward.
The best thing that TFFT has given me is the courage to try my ideas and take risks without fear, because they have full confidence in me. This is the best motivation for me and the reason why I have stayed with TFFT for the past 5 years. This July will be my 6th year anniversary with the organization!
I have grown so much in terms of knowledge, people skills, and patience in my years as a TT Program Manager with TFFT. I love learning and TFFT supports me in my learning endeavors. I have taken 1 certificate course and a post-grad diploma in the past 5 years. More than the financial support, TFFT allowed me the space to study while I am working.
This marks a very important year for TFFT as we are starting a new 5-year strategic plan. I have goals to effectively lead the team in putting this strategic plan to work for the good of the children. To put more focus to the picture, I want to make the systems within TFFT even more efficient so that we can better help the children achieve their full potential. Our goal as an organization is to see these children happy, healthy, well rounded, performing well in school, and resilient. With the whole TFFT team working together, I want to see this happening. I hope that as a team we will continue to find the right formula and approach to achieving this goal.
I want to thank all TFFT donors and sponsors who make our work on the ground possible. God will bless you tenfold for your generosity and heart, giving these children a better chance at life. As we celebrate our tenth year this year, please keep in mind that you are part of all the accomplishments that TFFT has had through the years. Nashukuru sana!
