POSSIBLE IMPOSSIBILITIES
Dr Silumbe, is director of research and development at the Zambia Research and Development Centre. This story has been adapted from the post news story edited by Austin Mwange Sep, 2014. Inspired, I have decided to share this article.
This is a story and one of a kind that I have ever read. It is not only an academic story and an account of a better education system but a story of possibilities, that the greatest people are not those who hide from the storm but the greatest Oak is the one that stands in scorching heat of the sun, blowing of the mighty tempest and yet takes deep root in the ground regardless of the apparent insurmountable chances of survival. It is a story of courage and hope.
As interviewed by Mwange:
Q: Your family background?
A: I was born in 1981 at Kapiri Mposhi clinic as a second born in a family of six (three boys and three girls). My father Gordon Silumbe was a teacher while my mother Felistus Nalavwe, was a dedicated mother who always remained home taking care of us while our father moved up and down with his career.
In 2010, I married a beautiful and humble lady, my former classmate Maybe Kalumba. We met at Bwacha Secondary School in grade 10, and since then I was her secret admirer. I only came to realise my dreams when we met again in 2008 in Lusaka, and our relationship was now inevitable. We have two children, Gordon and Coretta, the name Gordon from my father, and Coretta from Coretta King a great woman, the wife of Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
Q: Primary and secondary education?
A: In 1987 I started school at Kapiri Primary School and later in 1988 my father decided to transfer my brother and I to Lukanda Primary School. I wrote grade seven exam in 1993. In 1994, I went to study at Mkushi Secondary School, and it was there where I learned to be independent. After passing to grade 10 in 1996, I got a transfer to join my father in Kabwe where he had been transferred, and started school at Bwacha Secondary School. Life in Kabwe was like boarding life because the rest of the family remained in Kapiri Mposhi and it was a weekly stay in Kabwe and weekends we are in Kapiri-Mposhi. During this period, I studied day and night with the intent of qualifying to the University of Zambia. In 1998 we sat for exams, and early 1999 our grade 12 results came out, I was the best pupil at Bwacha Secondary school. It was a delightful moment to see the fruits of my hard work. Unfortunately, in the same month, my father died.
Q: Life after school?
A: Life became tough after school. My father had just passed on, mum was selling tea at TAZARA station, and I resorted to selling biscuits on the streets of Kapiri Mposhi in order to help the family. By December 1999, I was fed up of life in the streets. I was yearning to go to university. By then I had made hundreds of applications for a job but all was in vain. I had written hundreds of applications to various organisations for sponsorship to university but all I got were regrets. I had already received admission letters from the Copperbelt University, and Evelyn Hone College, but the University of Zambia was just recovering from its lost semesters after a long closure, so enrollments were delayed. My mother had just managed to raise a K100 (K100,000 then) which seemingly was just only enough for me to register at Evelyn Hone College.
In February 2000, I came to Lusaka and registered to do pharmacy at Evelyn Hone College. To my surprise, a week later I was told to get my money back, that I was late and that the Department of Pharmacy had already over-enrolled. This was a shock of my life. I didnt know where to go and what next. I thought about going back to Kapiri after saying bye to all my peers that I have entered college life; I thought about mum who sacrificed everything she had just to see her boy in college; the cross was too heavy to bear. I wept. Then the following day as I was contemplating on going back to Kapiri Mposhi, I met a former classmate who came with a torn piece of news paper that had an advert of the Russian government scholarship. And fortunately for us, that same day was the deadline for applications.
At first, I was reluctant to apply because a statement struck me on the advert that said selected applicants should be able to pay departure fees. I thought: where on earth I would get money to buy an air ticket? But then nothing is working out, what choice do I have? let me try this just for the sake of applying.Later I came to realise that departure fee was not an air ticket fee but rather a small tax paid to the airport at departure.
I wrote that application, and walked to the Bursaries Committee to drop the application letter. There I learnt that when shortlisted, we would be required to write aptitude tests, so I went back to Kapiri Mposhi and buried myself in intensive studies. I revised my grade 12 work and studied A-levels work. A week later, I received a telegram from the Bursaries Committee inviting me to come and sit for aptitude tests. I vividly remember that Thursday morning at Lusaka Girls Basic School when we wrote those tests. There were about 2,000 candidates, and left the class rather disappointed because I didnt finish answering all the questions. But when results came out, I was on the top of the list, I got the highest.
From there, it was now just a matter of time. I stayed in Lusaka squatting from one friend to another and in some instances spending nights at Zambia Railways Station, often walking long distances from Kaunda Square to town, and back; from UNZA to town, and back; this was my daily routine. It was during this time that I learnt the true meaning of Ubuntu. You are because I’m, I’m because you are.
One day I was very sick, and I didnt have any money, I was vomiting and I was weak. I knew if I stayed any longer without mums care, I would die. So I decided to lobby for transport to Kapiri Mposhi. I went to Euro Bus Station that was then located in the yard for FINDECO House. With only a small red folder containing my grade 12 results in my hands, I approached a bus conductor and told him that I was very sick I needed to go home urgently but I didnt have money. The conductor gashed at me how can you come here without money saying you want to board a bus. You are the boys who are stealing peoples bags. He grabbed me roughly and took me to the bus driver. Then he confiscated my folder, opened it and saw my grade 12 results slip. He asked are these your results, a chain of distinctions lined up on the results slip. I calmly nodded my head in affirmation. The bus conductor was so amazed and delighted that he took me to the tickets booth, removed K20 (K20,000 then) and bought a ticket for me. He later bought me a Yess drink and vanilla biscuit, and took me to sit at a front seat.
After giving me this great offer, he said imwe eimwe mukaba ama boses kuntanshi so mwikatulabako you will become our bosses in future so dont forget us. These words have remained stenciled on my mental sheets, and years will never obliterate their true meaning to me.
Q: University education?
A: By September 2000, I had secured myself a Russian scholarship, and a 100 per cent bursary to study at the University of Zambia. I had to relinquish one of the sponsorships as they were all administered by the Bursaries Committee. So I chose to go to Russia.
I left for Russia in September 2000 and all became history. I was sent to study A-levels at Don State Technical University in Rostov-On-Don. Then later in 2001, I went to study Electronics Engineering at Moscow Power Engineering Technical University (National Research University) in Moscow.
While in Moscow, I enrolled to study network technology at Moscow Networking Academy on part-time, and completed my CCNA programme there. I was also engaged in microprocessor research at Motorola Research Centre in Moscow
In 2005, I graduated with a distinction degree, and the university offered me a chance to do my masters degree. But I turned down the offer as I had just won a IITA-Samsung scholarship to study a masters degree in information and communications technology at the Information and Communications University in South Korea.
Before going to Korea, I came to Zambia in 2005, and during my few days in Zambia, I decided to become a member of the Zambia Research and Development Committee.
I left for South Korea in August 2005. It was in Korea where I experienced a great deal of personal transformation. The Korean work culture, the passion for innovation and creativity would become part of my life. Being part of the research team at Samsung-ICU Research Centre, and later at Mobile-Multimedia Research centre, my life was now defined as a researcher.
Therefore, after graduation in 2007, I decided to come back to Zambia and plough back all my experiences into the Zambia Research and Development Centre. Later in 2008 I decided to enroll for my PhD by research in ICT-enabled sustainable development and graduated in 2012.
Q: Motivation for higher eduation?
A: I draw great inspiration from my father - the best pupil at Ntatumbila Basic School in Chozi - who was selected to study at Serenje Boys Technical Secondary School in the mid 1960s. He later pursued his dream to become a teacher kafundisha wachalo, a prestigious job of that age, motivated by the likes of Julius Nyerere - a teacher (mwarimu), and