| Astronaut is a shooting star | Send to a friend |
| Saturday, 21 January 2012 10:59 |
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Born 42-years ago, Astronaut Rutenge Bagile has always been one to blaze a trail, taking a contingent of the needy with her along every new adventurous road. From the time she was a young adult, she believed in volunteering. “People recognise passion when they see it, and most of them will appreciate it. When I was in university, I volunteered at many developmental organizations whose purpose it was to bring about change in our society and that helped me to be who I am today,” she says. Astronaut is now the director of Women in Social Entrepreneurship (WISE), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that inspires, empowers, and equips Tanzanian youth and women leaders through entrepreneurship and leadership training in the economic, governmental, and social sectors. She believes in empowering women through knowledge. “When you give them resources without knowledge, they will return to you for assistance when things go wrong, but when you impart knowledge it empowers them to think and grow rich without additional input from the original source. So we train women and the youth around issues of economics, good governance and social justice so that they know their rights and are capable of stimulating development in their communities,” she says. Fighting for women and the youth “It is with youth that women can change the world,” Astronaut says. “Women are pioneers of changes but they cannot do it if they are not involved in shaping the new generation of individuals. They are people who have intense maternal bonds with children and that is why when you need to change a child, change a woman, and if you want to change a woman, change a child.” Managing multiple roles Learning, in Astronaut’s view, is the foundation of all things. She believes in education. “Just apply yourself to learning and it will help you, no matter what knowledge it is you acquiring,” she says. Currently, she is reading for her PhD at the University of Dar es Salaam on a scholarship from the Ford Foundation. The scholarship enabled her to choose any university in the world, but she opted to remain in Tanzania for two reasons – her family, her work. “I was afraid that if I went abroad, I would be the one to blame when I came back five years later to find that my children have fallen off the rails and become bad mannered and rebellious. And how could I leave my husband on his own for half a decade? Also, I couldn’t bring myself to leave WISE in its infancy. I got the scholarship when it was still young and growing, so I think it was the right decision to remain in Tanzania and take it to the next level.” Running an NGO is challenging and requires a lot of local travel. “I travel all over the country but thanks to technology I can monitor my family even from the villages. When I’m away, my husband remains at home with my two daughters and with the help, things run smoothly.” Girl power Her daughters Margreth (16) and Magdalena (8) are supportive of their mother’s work and she is raising them to be strong, independent women just like she is. “I believe good parenting is very important. Parents must ensure that they establish a level playing field early on in life so that both the girl and the boy child have equal opportunity in the home.” Astronaut urges fellow women to be aggressive and never give up, “I grew up in a family where all of us (children) were equal, but I was surrounded with a lot of violence and discrimination against women - some of them gave up but some did not and have excelled in life. The one’s who excelled worked with the men. At the end of the day, if we are to succeed we must all work together for the betterment of our country.” Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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