CHIPATA BOY DEFIES ALL ODDS TO GET AN EDUCATION

By Onishias Maamba

  

ACCORDING to UNICEF, Zambia has achieved near universal primary school completion levels - national statistics indicate a completion rate of 91.8 per cent at Grade 7. 

But this masks considerable regional disparities, with the northern region recording 81.3 per cent (72 per cent for female students) and Lusaka a rate of 78.6 per cent.

Further, transition rates from primary to secondary school continue to remain low at 67.5 per cent, mainly due to the lack of places to accommodate all primary school graduates.

Other barriers to children transitioning and completing secondary school include school fees introduced in Grade 8, other costs related to education, and the long distances to many schools.

For 21 year-old Joseph Thole Jr, his story is similar as he encountered serious financial challenges while in his 8^th grade, but thanks to his teacher, Ms. Mwakapuki who came to his rescue till he made it to grade 12 where he scored a stunning 14 points.   

Being the 4^th born in a family of 9, Joseph was born on 24th October, 1997 to Joseph Thole Sr and Macrina Phiri, both smallholder farmers of Mphande village in Kasenengwa district of Eastern Zambia.

Early in life, Joseph’s dream was to become a medical doctor. However, his dream was never realized as the little earns his parents acquired were not enough to cater for his education and that of his siblings.

In 2005, Joseph enrolled into grade 1 at Mkoma Primary School where he did his grades 1-7. However, after making it grade 8, huge financial challenge cast a dark cloud on his bright academic exploit as his parents were unable to raise user fees for him just in the first term.

“In 2011, I wrote my 7 seven and I made it to grade 8. However, just as I was supposed to commence my junior secondary I encountered financial problems. The problem arose as my parents are not in any form of formal employment. They are small holder farmers who could not afford to my pay school fees.

 But after noticing my zeal to attain education, one of my teachers at the school [Mkoma] Mrs Mwakapuki offered to pay for me during junior secondary. Luckily, she never stopped as she continued paying for me user even after I proceeded to St Luke’s Secondary school where I did my senior secondary education,” he narrates.

Joseph on duty as a Security

 Guard in Chipata. Picture 

Kennedy Lukhele

Mrs Mwakapuki did not only end at grade 12, she offered to pay for Joseph’s tuition fees when he enrolled at Chipata College of Education to pursue a Diploma in Agriculture Science in 2018.

Unfortunately, she could not continue paying for him in the terms that followed as she needed to sponsor two of her brothers in school and it became too much for her.

This was a setback in Joseph’s quest to attain tertiary education as he was unable to continue with his studies.

Realizing that his academic journey was at stake, Joseph ventured into business, where he could order bread in bulk from Chipata’s Spar outlet and operate as a hawker in the night.

“In the second term, I faced the similar financial challenge i earlier faced while in grade 8 which resulted into me stopping my course. However, I decided to start business of selling bread at night. I would buy in bulk from Spar Chipata and resell along the street. As I was selling bread one evening, my registrar from Chipata College approached me and asked what I was doing instead of being in school. I explained to him that I left school due financial challenges. He advised me to go back to school to get a leave letter that would enable me to resume with my studies in 2019,” he said.

“From my bread sells, I would save my profits on average I made K100 per week. Later, I decided to apply for a job as a security guard at Kavulamungu stores. I was accepted and started working on 28^th  December, 2018. I would work during the day and later sell bread in the evening, till I managed to raise K1, 500 that I needed to resume my studies in the first term of 2019,” he adds.

Joseph says he decided to do the unusual to raise tuition by working both as a hawker and sentry so that he completes his diploma programme, with the view of liberating his family’s current financial hardships.

Although he admits that at times the mockery among his peers is intense that he feels like giving up, his driving force remains to one day become an accomplished teacher.

“Yeah, at times I feel shy but sometimes I take it as normal that is how life is. At times when am passing by school mates while clad in my security uniform, they mock me and often I hide from them. But am not discouraged because I have been working as a security guard for the last 6 months and my resolve is to finish my teaching course. I will remain focused until I achieve my dream,” he said.   

Vividly, Joseph indicates that three of his elder female siblings failed to proceed beyond grade 9 due to financial hardships despite having qualifying to 10 and that they are all into the hawking business where they too sell bread on the streets of Chipata. 

He adds that his immediate young sister also failed to proceed to grade 10, despite passing.

Joseph in class with his
colleagues. 

For Joseph, the route he has taken makes him believe that lack of finances is not an excuse to not being able to attain education. His message to other young people who could be facing similar challenges is to defy the odds in order for them to achieve what they want.  

“My encouragement to other young people facing a similar situation as mine is that they can come in to help their parents. Resorting to beer drinking and substance abuse is not the answer, because as young people, we are capable of shaping our own destiny and it requires us to struggle. At times, financial challenges could be the source of our strength as it would open up avenues of generating income. For instance, they can decide to be like me who is working as a security guard and schooling at the same time. They need to put more effort over their goals,” he said.

His dream of becoming a doctor is still as fresh as a lily of the valley, saying given an opportunity to pursue it, he would cease the opportunity without hesitation.

He is also appealing to well-wishers that would help him financially to come to his rescue so that he completes his diploma programme.

Joseph further remains indebted to his teacher who sacrificed her hard- earned income to send him school.

There could be other young people are who in a similar circumstance out there and their future is almost blur. But for Joseph, he has decided to defy the odds, by doing anything within his means just to attain education, fulfilling the old cliché which says the sky is no longer the limit, but the starting point.