BACKGROUND

Neema was born in 1984 in the small town of Kyela in southwestern Tanzania. Neema’s father used to work as a magistrate in Kyela but has retired and he and his wife are now depending on farming a small piece of land to support the family. Growing up Neema had nine siblings, three half-brothers and seven siblings sharing both father and mother, all where raised my Mrs. Dickson. Unfortunately Neema’s young sister passed away in April 2013 leaving the family in grief. When Neemas father worked for government authorities, he had the opportunity to send his children to the prestigious Tumaini University in Iringa, the capital of the Southern Highlands in Tanzania. Perhaps inspired by her father, Neema chose to study a Bachelor of Law simply because she likes justice and early on was the one who mediated when rowdy situations occurred in the Dickson family. After graduating Neema got field practice at Tanzania Women Lawyers Association where she got to experience how many Tanzanian women are in distress, abused, raped and exploited. Unfortunately, Neema could not complete the entire eight months practice since she was not being paid thus she had to quit to find another way to earn a living. The experience, however, contributed to shaping Neema’s dream for the future to work with women's rights, to spread knowledge and to be part of creating justice. During the last years Neema has had various part-time jobs. She has been working with the administration in a gospel church and the HR for a youth organization but has failed to get a permanent job related to her studies. Neema is such a talented gospel singer that she even makes some extra money performing in other churches and on festive events. In 2013 Neema began to study a one year Post Graduate Diploma in Education to add to her earlier experience. She speaks very good English, which in combination with creativity and great ambitions, made Help to Help chose to sponsor her for further studies. Moreover, Help to Help sees a great potential in the combination of Law and Education, making Neema attractive to employers in a number of areas both businesses, government authorities and NGOs. Neema is married to Gwamaka Mwansumbule and they have a beautiful baby daughter named Angel.

I dream of becoming a successful lawyer working to improve women's rights in Tanzania

INTERESTS

I love gospel singing and going to church.