Tryness has been working at Joy Grace School for more than 10 years. She always wanted to be a teacher, but growing up she was labeled a slow learner and was called names which dented her confidence. When her uncle opened a school, she believed it was finally time to pursue her dreams of teaching. However, another organization intervened and placed her to work in the office, saying she did not have the skills to be a teacher. When our founder, Whitney, met Tryness, she immediately saw her passion for teaching. Whitney and the Impact One team began to walk alongside Tryness to help her develop the skills necessary to pursue her God-given dream.
Through our partnership with Joy Grace School, Tryness has participated in countless different training and mentoring opportunities over the last 10 years. Although she started out as a timid participant, the more we equipped her, the more her confidence began to blossom. Whitney remembers the moment she recognized Tryness’ passion was now backed up with knowledge when she volunteered to demonstrate a phonics teaching method during one of the training events. Now fully flourishing in her confidence, she is guiding and mentoring other teachers, passing on the skills that she has learned.
Tryness (center) showing new teachers from other partner schools how to use resources during library visits.
In her own words, “When you have knowledge and confidence, you have somewhere to start from, unlike when you don’t know anything. So now I feel super good that I can help other teachers!”
Tryness is miles from the person she used to be, scared of pursuing her dream and always second-guessing herself. Now she is a shining example of what happens when a person realizes their full potential. A passionate teacher equipped with the right skills who is not only imparting knowledge to her students, but is building up other teachers to do the same!
“With the new [Chikondano] network, I feel good because they are open and willing to learn from me. I can’t just keep the knowledge I have from Impact One to myself; I have to share it!”