Tererai Trent

Tererai Trent (born c. 1965) is a Zimbabwean-American woman whose unlikely educational success has brought her international fame. 2Background and Career Trent was born in the village of Zvipani in Karoi District, Mashonaland West Province. 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 youn