Emanuel Malama’s first sponsor was Deen Coleman, one of Zambia’s Scholarship Fund’s volunteers. Deen found Emanuel when he was visiting Mungwi Technical High school in Mungwi Zambia. The school principal was giving our volunteers a tour of the high school, when he introduced Emanuel to the group. The ZSF had already committed to sixteen students at the school and could not take on any more. But as Deen heard Emanuel’s story he asked if he could sponsor Emanuel himself. This is the story in Deen’s own words.

“I had just finished interviewing many students, all of which were in need. How does one determine the greater need among the desperate? While outside getting some fresh-air, I noticed Musoka, one of our interpreters, about a 100 feet away talking to a young man. After 15 minutes of observing, I felt driven to find out what was going on. The young man understood very little English but seemed very intelligent. Musoka explained that his father had died, and he was determined to be educated so he rode his bike for days to the first school he could reach which was Mungwi Technical High School. All he had was the clothes on his back and his bike. What makes this story touching is that Emmamuel Malama has only one foot. The other was amputated after being infected due to a bug bite. I was so impressed at his drive to be educated that I told Musoka to tell him he now had a sponsor. I believe he was in a state of shock after Musoka told him. Then he was elated that someone cared enough—like an answer to prayer. He couldn’t tell me verbally, but I saw it in his eyes and mannerisms. I’ve since not seen such gratitude from anyone I’ve helped. I’ve received two letters from him and in each he considers me like a father. I now consider him my son.”

Edith Mfula is the first student from Chabala Village to attend high school. This year she is graduating from high school.

Chabala Village has always held a special place in the heart of our program. After starting the Zambia Scholarship Fund, Peggy’s daughter applied to the Peace Corp and was assigned to Zambia. You can’t pick your location and the Peace Corp had no idea the family had any involvement with Zambia. But there was Peggy’s daughter, Jenny, living in Chabala Village and learning the language of the local tribe and proving instrumental to some key events in the success of the program. You can read about that in detail in Peggy’s book Foreign Flowers.

Jenny reported that the village had no steady teacher. And while Jenny filled in where she could, no child was able to ever pass the high school entrance exams, let alone have the money to go to school. In 2004, ZSF began their adopt-a-school program. The first two teachers to be adopted by the ZSF were sent to Chabala Village. Edith Mfula was one of many students taught by those two teachers until she was able to pass her high school exams. In 2005 she was sent to Chinsali Girls High and was sponsored by Betty Lewis. Betty has sponsored Edith through all of her high school years. In 2008 Edith became the first student to graduate high school from Chabala village. We took this picture of Edith at Chinsali Girls high and brought it to her mother at Chabala village. I wish there was a way for me to share with you the joy that welded up in that proud mothers face, even more I wish I could share with you that scene of tears.

Congratulations Edith!

Junior Augustus Mfungo first contacted the Zambia’s Scholarship fund in 2005. He wrote a letter to the president asking for help to go to high school. He was sent a routine reply, the same on that is sent to all students who write and ask for help. In this reply it states no money is ever given directly to a student they must work through a school. He took it upon himself to find a high school near his village and had that high school write a letter to us requesting we find sponsor for him. For a few years he was the only one at his high school sponsored by the ZSF. His sponsor Phyllis Hansen sponsored him through out his high school years and told him she would sponsor him if he wanted to become a teacher. When he graduated he walked to one of the teachers colleges on our list and told them he had a sponsor in America who would pay for his college fees. They immediately wrote to us and Augustus joined our program at Mansa Teachers College. Last year when we visited Augustus we had a package to deliver to him from his sponsor. Phyllis had sent him some sunglasses among other needed items because he had explained to her that because he was albino his eyes were being damaged by the sun. Here he is the proud owner of a new pair of sun glasses. As we visited with Augustus he told us the sad news that he was now almost blind. He asked Phyllis if she could send him a manual typewriter so that he could write. Of course there is no electricity for anything else in the villages. It turns out that manual typewriters are a rare as horse buggy’s now, but after a difficult search Phyllis found him one. Augustus is going to make a fantastic teacher. His life experiences are motivation enough to all his students. He is a typical example of our students who never give up even when life has dealt you unfair cards.

Scott is one of our volunteers. He knew that the previous year each High School we work with had been taken a computer. One of those computers didn’t survive the travel and so for the last year this high school had been without any computer. Scott was determined to get them one bringing them into the new millennium with a bang. Packing this not-small donated computer into his luggage and schlepping it what seemed like a million miles, he finally got to Nkulumashiba Secondary High School.

Working with the students to set it up in a classroom, they were all in awe having never seen computers before. Then Scott told them to hold their breaths and pray that it would work. All eyes were upon him when he plugged in the computer and the screen lit up and the Dell logo flashed on the screen. They all cheered in unison. It was the highlight of Scott’s trip. He spent the next several hours teaching the eager young eyes about how the computer worked and what kinds of things you could do with it. When they printed out a page with some pictures and words that they had put together, you would have thought by the looks on their faces that a UFO had just landed in the room.