Thursday, February 16, 2012

Webster, Zambian guy, 25 years old, The Story of His Life

Webster is a watchman during night at my place. In the daytime, he goes to school. This year he became grade 10. It means he entered secondary school. I wondered why he is already an adult yet goes to school with kids?
He told me the story of his life.
*****
Me and my family lived in a small farming village in the bush. I was a school boy. We were not rich, but my parents managed to pay my school fees. When I was in grade 7, I failed the exam. The following year, my parents payed the school fees for me again and I failed again. So I stopped going to school. I did nothing at that time. I would just sit at home and sometimes I worked on the farm.
And then I got married. One year, the weather was cold. We couldn't grow any crops and all of our cows died from a disease. So we moved to Kalomo town to live. First I did only some small piecework, and then I got this job. Then I started to think that my salary was not enough to feed my family and pay for my children to go to school. I thought I should get more money, but I'm not well educated so I couldn't get a highly-paid job. And then an idea occurred to me. I could go back to school again. I told my wife my idea and she agreed with my plan. It wasn't easy for to me to study again, so I tried hard. During the final exam this year, I got study leave and my wife worked for a living instead of me. She helped me concentrate on my exam.
*****
Wao! It's a good story. But I was worried about his school fees. I asked him if his salary is enough for him and his family, because I thought his salary is not so high. He replied that when he was in basic school, he managed to pay it on time, but now he has got a sponsorship from a Canadian woman. She had stayed here for 5 years before so she knows him and his life. He sent her an e-mail asking for sponsorship and she accepted it. Now he doesn't have to worry about his school fees! It's wonderful. Here in the Namwianga area, many students get sponsorship from the U.S. and Canada. And their organization is doing this program very fairly and correctly. That Canadian woman should be happy because her money was spent on the right thing in the right way.

Zambia Mission Fund Canada
http://www.zambiamissionfundcanada.org/

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