Ten years ago, Fatma Juma Haji, a timid woman who stood only 5’-3” and “never spoke to anyone,” made a life changing decision.
“I was a housewife,” she said. “Cooking, taking care of my husband and family. But I wanted to make things better for my family.”
She decided to accept an offer from Barefoot College International, the first of its kind offered out of its new regional outpost in Zanzibar, the island that Juma Haji had called home her entire life. She had no idea what lay ahead other than she would learn to be a solar engineer and return to Zanzibar to electrify her village.
“It was impossible to even dream of going outside of this island,” she said. “So I went to do the impossible.”
The woman known throughout the BCI community as Mama Fatma, has done even more than that, which culminated in her being named BCI’s first global ambassador during the now thriving Zanzibar regional center’s 10th year anniversary.
“You are an inspiration to so many people,” said BCI-UK Board Chair Tracey Balch during the presentation. “You have created such a legacy these past ten years.”
Mama Fatma said she was honored, but typical of her last 10 years, she had one question.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked.
If there’s work to be done, she wants to do it, the sooner the better, she said.
Mama Fatma taps Into her ‘super power’
Even though recently retired, Fatma continues as a BCI master trainer, continues her entrepreneurial enterprises in making local products and continues to steadfastly inspire those around her.
“In this way I have found my super power,” Mama Fatma said. “I don’t feel like a woman who is put down. I am empowered to do more and more. I can speak to anyone at any time and share how they can make their lives better. I am confident. Before, I never spoke to anyone before.
She officially retired this year as is customary in Zanzibar when one reaches retirement age. But Mama Fatma has no interest in slowing down says BCI Country Director Brenda Geofrey.
“I used to buy her lip balm product before I met her,” says Geofrey, who became the director of BCI-Zanzibar in 2019. “She is an entrepreneur, she makes her own line of liquid soap, she’s a farmer and has several businesses she has been developing to bring other products to the market. She recently learned seaweed processing, so she can be involved in the next phase of work at Barefoot College.”
“I never want to stop learning,” Mama Fatma said.
Since returning from India, Mama Fatma’s career can be defined by learning. Her learning new things and her teaching others to do the same, while inspiring the women she trains with a vision of what’s possible.
“At first, I knew that women are not empowered. We aren’t able to learn many things,” she said. “So when the opportunity came, I didn’t want to miss it and now I want to help other women. From the beginning I wanted to be a role model, because many women have nobody to support them and they don’t think they can make their lives better.”
First Africa and now the world
Mama Fatma became a master trainer once the Zanzibar center was officially opened and has been a part of every training cohort that has happened in the years that followed. And the woman who couldn’t imagine leaving the island has passport stamps from places around the world, including South Sudan, the first sub saharan African-based cohort and as far north as Yakutsk, Russia where she traveled to help strategize solar training for reindeer herders in the Arctic.
Sue Stevenson, BCI director of strategic partnerships said, she is most impressed that Mama Fatma dedicated herself to study English, and now confidently speaks for herself in high-level meetings. For example, Mama Fatma traveled to an international conference in Paris to elevate the work of BCI.
“Imagine, I went to the very big tower (Eiffel Tower) and saw things I never thought I’d see,” she said with a healthy laugh. “There is still much to see and do.”
Which is exactly what her new job entails, Stevenson said.
“She is such a powerful inspiration. We want to take her to different places around the world and help share with others the work here in Zanzibar and the global work we do.”
A job Mama Fatma welcomed with her contagious energy and smile.
The other master trainers in Zanzibar have taken notice. During a strategy meeting for the rest of 2025 and 2026, several said they were ready to also speak up about their experiences and share the work of BCI. Geofrey said many have also begun to learn to English so they can follow in Mama Fatma’s footsteps.
“More women are coming to the center, both local women taking advantage of the livelihood programs and others coming here to train,” Mama Fatma said. “I am motivated to help them all learn as I have and improve their lives.”
Over the last decade Mama Fatma made the impossible possible. What lay ahead? There is no limit.