The character arc of Tererai Trent

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born about 1965 in the village of Zvipani in the Karoi District of Zimbabwe. Between then and now sit a list of dreams buried in a tin, a bachelor's degree at Oklahoma State in 2001, a master's in 2003, a doctorate at Western Michigan in December 2009, a foundation founded in the same year, a public health master's at Berkeley in 2013, a children's book in 2015 and The Awakened Woman in 2017. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Tererai Trent?

She buried the list and came back for it.

She was born about 1965 in Zvipani, a village in the Karoi District of Zimbabwe, and did not go to school as a girl. She has told, many times, how she wrote down what she wanted, a bachelor's degree, a master's degree and a doctorate, put the paper in a tin and buried it under a rock. The story was reported in Half the Sky in 2009, and it is not a metaphor: the list was literal, and she crossed the items off it one by one.

She reached Oklahoma State University and took a bachelor's degree in agricultural education in 2001, a master's in 2003, and a doctorate in HIV and AIDS prevention programmes at Western Michigan University in December 2009. That is the third item on the buried list, taken about thirty years after she wrote it. She added a master's in public health and epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley in 2013.

She has been an adjunct professor in global health at Drexel University since 2013. In 2009 she founded Tinogona Foundation, now Tererai Trent International, which has built schools in Zimbabwe, including in the district she grew up in. The Girl Who Buried Her Dreams in a Can came in 2015 for children, and The Awakened Woman in 2017, which won an NAACP Image Award. The word tinogona means it is achievable.

The moments

Tererai Trent's timeline.

The 1990s

Jun 1990

A list, in a tin

Milestone, and it changed everything. A literal list, in a literal tin, buried under a rock in Zimbabwe.

1 Jun 1998

Stay, or go for the list

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: go and get them, taken, or leave it buried. She took four degrees in total, including the doctorate on the list, and built schools in the district she grew up in.

The 2000s

Jun 2001

The first degree

Milestone, and it changed everything. The first item on the buried list, crossed off.

Jun 2003

The second degree

Milestone, and it changed everything. The second item, two years after the first.

Sep 2009

A foundation

Milestone, and it changed everything. Schools in the country she was not sent to school in. Tinogona means it is achievable.

8 Sep 2009

Half the Sky

Milestone, and it changed her direction. The book that took the story to readers who had never heard it.

Dec 2009

The doctorate

Milestone, and it changed everything. The third item, taken about thirty years after she wrote it down.

The 2010s

Jun 2013

A fourth degree

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A fourth degree, which was never on the original list.

Sep 2013

Teaching at Drexel

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A professorship, for a woman who did not attend school as a girl.

Jun 2015

A book for children

Milestone. Her own story, written for the age she was when it started.

19 Sep 2017

The Awakened Woman

Milestone, and it changed everything. A book about naming what you want, from somebody who wrote hers down and buried it.

The tin is dug up and the dreams are done, so she is writing new ones. What it has set moving is schools standing in the district she grew up in, built by a woman who did not go to school there herself.

What she wrote

Books by Tererai Trent

2015
The Girl Who Buried Her Dreams in a Can
Her own story, written for children of the age she was when it started.
2017
The Awakened Woman
Remembering and igniting our sacred dreams. NAACP Image Award for outstanding literary work.

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Tererai Trent: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What is Tererai Trent's character arc?

A village childhood in Zimbabwe without schooling, a list of degrees written on paper and buried in a tin under a rock, and then four degrees taken across two decades and schools built where she grew up.

What is Tererai Trent's buried tin?

She wrote down the degrees she wanted, a bachelor's, a master's and a doctorate, put the paper in a tin and buried it under a rock. It is not a metaphor: she crossed the items off one by one.

What degrees does Tererai Trent have?

A bachelor's degree in agricultural education from Oklahoma State University in 2001, a master's in 2003, a doctorate from Western Michigan University in December 2009, and a master's in public health from Berkeley in 2013.

What is Tererai Trent International?

The foundation she established in 2009, originally called Tinogona, which has built schools in Zimbabwe including in the district she grew up in. The word tinogona means it is achievable.

What is The Awakened Woman by Tererai Trent?

Her book of 2017, subtitled remembering and igniting our sacred dreams, which won an NAACP Image Award for outstanding literary work. It is about naming what you want, written by somebody who did exactly that.

Was Tererai Trent in Half the Sky?

Yes. Her story was reported in Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn in 2009, which is how most readers outside her own field first encountered it. She took her doctorate in the same year the book appeared.

Where was Tererai Trent born?

In the village of Zvipani, in the Karoi District of Mashonaland West Province in Zimbabwe, about 1965. The public record does not give a finer date than the year, and gives that as approximate.

Where does this timeline of Tererai Trent's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Tererai Trent isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

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Sources

Tererai Trent, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky, 2009.
Publisher records for The Girl Who Buried Her Dreams in a Can and The Awakened Woman.