Hawa is seventeen years old and the fifth of six children. The high scores she earned on national standardized tests in middle school allow Hawa to attend high school in the capital, despite the fact that she is from the countryside. She and her brother, who lives with her in Stone Town, receive little support from a mother who struggles to make ends meet. Her father is deceased. Hawa plans to study physics and mathematics in college with the hopes of becoming an electrical engineer. She would like to go to university in Great Britain or the United States, wanting to find the best engineering or technical program available in the world. Hawa has a deep respect for her family, and holds her mother in very high regard. She believes that her education will provide her with the real world skills that are necessary to improve the quality of life in her family’s native district in Zanzibar’s rural northern hills.
A woman in the developing world will reinvest 90% of her earnings into her family’s well-being, compared with 35% for a man.