The Unknown Mentors
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 too! She still is a mentor to many AYC students.
Francis, one of the many faces of mentoring at AYC.
January is National Mentoring Month to recognize mentorship and our Amos Youth Centre has a lot of “new” mentors this year who have been doing a terrific job learning how to guide the younger students in so many things from how to improve their grades and how to solve calculus to how to build your self-esteem and confidence. Recently, I met with several of them, socially distanced of course, to talk about what mentorship meant to them.
When I asked the question “What does mentoring mean to you?” I noticed a number of confused faces at my question. After a minute, Francis raised his hand to answer. “But Madame,” he said, “I am not a mentor or at least I didn’t know that.” I smiled at him in comprehension because I did understand him. I explained that a mentor is a person who has more knowledge or experience in a certain subject who helps guide a less experienced person. And many humbled students just like Francis told me they did not see themselves as mentors – they thought that they were too young or inexperienced to be called by this name.
To qualify for a college scholarship with AEP, our high school graduates spend their gap year between high school and college teaching, supervising and guiding students younger than them – some even their peers.
I gave them ten minutes to think about all the time they spent guiding a grade 9 student on how to go about solving arithmetic or the entire mathematics syllabus, or, how they had a one on one conversation on how to come up with the perfect study time table to be able to improve their grades. I also told them to think about the times when they taught a class and how students loved the class.
Before the ten minutes were over, Peter came to me, “We are ready to talk about what it means to be mentors.” When I walked in they didn’t wear the confused faces anymore, they were ready.
Francis asked if he could go first. “I have been a mentor for a year now. I have mentored a few young students. Among the few, one particular student needed counseling on his academic performance. When he showed me his results, I was so emotional, like I felt sorry for him because his results were very poor. I advised him on how to study, what kind of friends to associate with and not to miss classes. A term later, he showed me his results, I was happy and amazed as he got merits in almost all of the subjects. This was an achievement in my life and gave me willingness to continue helping other young students.” He said it so confidently, his happiness in being able to help that young student was evident.
Barbra, one of the many faces of mentoring at AYC.
Next up was Barbra, a college student studying Public Health, who had a little story about her mentorship journey. “How do I feel about being a mentor? I feel happy and encouraged. Once when I was working at a youth friendly corner as a peer educator, a 16-year-old girl walked up to me to talk to me. ‘I am going to drop out of school because I am pregnant,’ she said crying, but I told her, ‘Look, you don’t have to leave school because of it. I believe you can still complete school, become a great mum and also graduate.’ I managed to convince her to continue. She is still in school and doing really well in her academics. That was a great achievement for me.”
I was really happy to hear about the wonderful stories from the two students and I was excited they were realizing the wonderful job they were doing in guiding these younger students.
John, a recent high school graduate, understood what mentoring was all about, saying, “I feel good and it makes me become more mature knowing very well that someone is looking up to me. I feel very responsible and want to work hard to become a better person since I am a mentor out there. I am an inspiration to someone.“
Kalaluka, one of the many faces of mentoring at AYC.
Kalaluka has been a beneficiary of AEP for many years and is a third year student pursuing a degree in Information Technology with Cyber Security at Zambia ICT College. He knew that he was a mentor and was very confident about it. “Mentoring means a lot to me, it means understanding the person and advising them based on my life experience. There is a big difference between one who knows the people they inspire and one who doesn't know who they inspire. I am saying so because of my life experience as a mentor at our youth centre. Before I attended the Amos Youth Centre in 2018, I never thought I was an inspiration to anyone, but when I attended the 2018 Leadership Camp as a Vocheli (leader), at the end of the camp all the campers where told to write letters to anyone who inspired them. I received many letters from the pupils at the centre. Ever since, I knew that whatever decision I make in life someone takes it as true hence making it more easy for me to communicate with the young ones. The challenge I have encountered as a mentor comes with my peers thinking of me as being childish or immature because I enjoy playing with children, but that does not bother me at all. I am happy. I enjoy having talks with the (younger) students at the centre both girls and boys. I am amazed when the students always thank me for a “good talk” afterwards. I was happy to learn that my fellow college students draw inspiration from me. It's not easy being a mentor but it's worth it as it helps you to shape young people into responsible adults. I learn so much from the people I mentor. They come to me with questions on life skills, sexual reproductive health rights, drug abuse and career guidance.”
AEP currently has 23 high school graduates that are tutoring and mentoring to their younger peers. When schools closed due to the pandemic last year, these young people were a lifeline to their younger peers as they kept them engaged and focused on their school work. We believe these amazing young people deserve to be recognized for their efforts in mentoring and training up the next generation of students and changemakers in Zambia who are shaping the world into a better place.
Happy Mentorship Month to all!