Loveness grew up feeling like her parents didn't care about her and she struggled to scrape together money to buy school books. She met a man who helped her keep going to school, but when she fell pregnant he abandoned her and she was kicked out of school.
Loveness, 19, was born in Arusha as one of five siblings. She felt looked after in her early years, but things became harder as she got older.
By secondary school, if her parents would give her money to buy food, she would save some trying to scrape together what she needed for school supplies.
But if she came back late and the food was already cooked, she couldn't save any and she would fail to get the books she needed.
“I used to go to school at six in the morning and leave at six in the evening,” Loveness said.
“Sometimes I ate nothing in school from morning to evening – sometimes I found food when I went home, sometimes not.
“Sometimes they would cook food but wouldn't leave any for me, I don't know why.
“My parents were there but I couldn't ask them for anything,” Loveness added.
“My brother was jobless during that time but he used to assist a bit.”
Things progressively got worse and by the middle of secondary school her attendance started dropping off.
“I lost hope so sometimes I would go to school, sometimes not,” Loveness said.
Loveness felt like her siblings were given more care by her parents, but she doesn't understand why.
“I reached the point where I decided to leave home and went to live with a relative who used to help me, and do domestic work for her,” Loveness said.
“But when I went there she was taking care of two people, so she asked me to go back home.”
“When I was at home facing the same problem I met the father of my son,” Loveness continued.
“He used to help me buy school supplies.
“Then I got pregnant.”
Loveness hid her pregnancy from everyone, including the baby's father, who was 23, and she continued going to school.
“I was fearing telling him,” Loveness said.
“But when I reached seven months the school recognised that I was pregnant with three months to go before my exams.
“They called my parents and then expelled me, telling me to go back home and start my own life.”
Loveness said she had a good relationship with the baby's father until shortly after giving birth at 17. He was sending money but stopped within weeks of the baby being born and started ignoring Loveness' calls.
“So I was raising the child alone. I was jobless and I had nothing to give to the family,” she said.
“When I got anything I was running home to give it to my child.
“When I needed something my parents would say 'you have to fight – this is your son, not ours.'”
When Mama Happy met Loveness, she invited her to come to Perfect Vision to learn how to sew so in the future she could be a tailor. So in September 2020 Loveness began attending the program.
But her family don't approve and she has to get up very early to do a lot of domestic work before she comes.
Her baby, named Davis, is now 14 months old.
“I make sure to do all the work and get down on my knees because I don't want them to think I'm getting too high,” she said.
“Sometimes I'm doing it while carrying the baby.
“I ask God to bless us [Perfect Vision] with a lot of work. I believe that in the future I will stand on my own two feet and that this will help us,” Loveness said.