Scholarships Empower Entire Families
By Annabel Mumba
Annabel Mumba is AEP’s Donor Relations Coordinator in Zambia. She is a Scholarship Fund recipient, high school graduate, and one of our latest Success Stories.
Adromeda sells dried fish for a living. When her daughter, Seneca, passed the 7th grade exam, she could not be excited due to the looming school fees that are mandatory in 8th grade.
Adromeda is busy drying fish outside her house. The fish ban has been lifted and she is looking forward to starting her fish business again. The ban is imposed each year between December to April to allow the fish to breed and multiply. Adromeda is 29 years old and a single mother of three, two boys and one girl. Outside is Senica, her second born, who is entering grade eight this year. Senica is washing her uniforms in preparation for school the next day where she is writing her end of the first term test in her new grade.
Senica’s mother was not sure if her daughter was going to start grade eight this year despite her passing grade seven exams very well. “I kept thinking to myself of how she should go to school. Instead of being happy that she passed and beginning a new grade, I was worried about where her school fees were going to come from.”
Secondary education in Zambia has mandatory fees that must be paid before students enter the classroom. The African Education Program (AEP) scholarship program eases parents’ worries of paying school fees. Approximately 75% of parents whose children are in the scholarship program are marketers and bricklayers who are unable to pay these mandatory fees.
Senica has been an active student at AEP’s after-school learning and leadership centre for the past few years. When AEP learned that Senica had to delay collecting her admission letter into 8th grade because of outstanding balances that her mother could not clear, she became a candidate for sponsorship and was awarded an AEP Nyali Scholarship for 2021.
Before Covid-19, every day after school, Senica would make her way to the centre for lunch and academic tutoring or “tuitions” as they are known locally. Her mom also shared, “When Senica told me that AEP was going to pay for her school fees, I was more than happy! From then I knew that my child’s education was secured.” Senica’s mother was not able to complete her education, but wishes a different story for her children with the help of AEP. She is hopeful that they will be educated and empowered through access to quality education and tutoring at the centre.
Education would not be attainable for Christer’s family without AEP’s Scholarship Program. Her children, Loveness and Amos, study hard each day to make their mother proud.
Christer’s story is not different from that of Adromeda. She has eight children and four are sponsored by AEP. Amos and Mapola, Loveness and Miyoba are in grades eight, eleven and twelve respectively. Christer and her husband are both not in formal employment. She sells at the market while her husband drives a van, but that is not enough to raise eight children and two other dependants.
“When AEP came to my aid and started sponsoring my children, I felt like a big weight was lifted off on my shoulders and I was able to breathe properly.” She has hope that once her children complete their education, they will live independent lives too.
For many parents like Christer and Adromeda, having someone pay for their children’s school fees is a miracle, especially now that life is more difficult with the pandemic. Eight out of ten parents lost their jobs or businesses in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. School fees are not very important to a family that is in survival mode when they are trying to find ways to feed their large family. Having their children in class safe and sound is a relief and a blessing to them.
Joyce did not have to choose between putting food on the table or sending her children to school, thanks to AEP’s Scholarship Program.
Other parents have had their dreams come true thanks to the AEP sponsorship program. One such parent is Joyce, mother to Teddy Sakala. Teddy is a university graduate and one of AEP’s most recent hires at the youth centre. Teddy received his first sponsorship from AEP in grade ten and continued in the sponsorship program throughout college. Joyce sells floor polish that she makes in her small kitchen and being a single parent, all her earnings are spent on rent and groceries. She recalls how life was before AEP came to her rescue. “It was hard raising four children on my own. There were school fees that needed to be paid and it was difficult.” When her son was sponsored it brought so much joy because she had hope and knew everything was going to be okay. Now that Teddy is working, he can help his mother with the expenses too.
AEP’s Nyali Scholarship Fund not only benefits a young person, its effects are felt for years to come in the lives of the families in our program.
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