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Oxfam News E-magazine
09 20
THE EDUCATION ISSUE • • • • • • •
From driver to manager
Training opportunities in Zambia A new board game on Hong Kong poverty Education with ethnic minorities in Vietnam Schooling for home-alone children in China Climate change awareness and action A new CSR guidebook for the garment industry A new book on basic education
By Navin Vasudev and Neal McKenna
Most people see NGOs as making
It had been 12 years since he had been
and Geography. I got a mere pass in
Stephen reflects on the change,
c h a n g e s i n p e o p l e ’s li v e s . Ye t ,
a student. HODI covered tuition and
Mathematics.” When Stephen took
“I don’t even want to think of how
sometimes the change happens from
examination fees of about 1.1 million
extra classes to prepare for university,
terrible life might have been if I had
within, as at HODI, a nationwide
Zambian Kwacha (about US$200) on
he also managed to get a distinction in
continued as a taxi driver,” he says
NGO based in Lusaka, the capital of
the condition that if Stephen failed
Mathematics, and in 2006, he earned a
emphatically. “So many people have
Zambia.
the exams, he would have to pay
diploma in Sociology. All the while, he
helped me transform my life. I had the
back the loan. “It was a challenge!”
still worked full-time at HODI. “There
ambition, but not the resources. I am
he smiled.
was no choice. I have a wife and three
so grateful.”
Born the first of 12 children in 1974, Stephen Mumbi was fortunate e n o u g h to a chi eve a 9 th g ra d e
“I went back to secondary school
education before he had to leave
in 2004 and matriculated in 2007. I
school to help support his family:
was totally lost at the beginning, but
His work life changed along
with wisely, because they shape your
His father had been injured in a
I made up my mind I would make it…
with his educational achievements.
thinking. Believe in yourself and get
road accident and could not work.
Sometimes I used my per diem (from
By 2007, Stephen Mumbi was on
an education. It will improve your
Stephen first found a job as a daka-
HODI) to buy textbooks, supplies or
the programme staff. One project
well-being. Knowledge will pay you.
buy at construction sites, then as an
to hire a tutor…. I used to travel a lot
Stephen helped coordinate was an
It will give you understanding and
unlicensed taxi driver called a night-
– sometimes two weeks in the field
Oxfam-supported effort in Chiawa.
wisdom. Believe me, with education,
rider. “I liked the taxi work better,”
– and it might be examination time…
“I worked with various teams on the
your life will never be the same.”
he says. “But I kept promising myself
I got a lot of support from various
ground and with other community
I would complete my schooling.”
people as well as from HODI… and
organisations to help improve people’s
children. I couldn’t only be a student. I had a family to support.”
In 1996, Stephen got a driver’s
by the beginning of the second term I
living standards.” By 2008, Stephen
licence to drive taxis and buses legally.
had started to catch up. By the end of
became a full Programme Officer and
For seven years, he continued to
that quarter, the principal was quite
started a BA in Development Studies
work the roads, with his dream of
impressed with me. He assured me I
at the Zambia Open University, and
an education slipping further and
would not fail… I worked hard and
this year, in 2009, he was promoted
further away. Then, by chance, one
received merits in English, Commerce
to Project Manager.
of his customers for whom he had been helping with postal pick-ups, deliveries and other tasks, introduced him to HODI. He was hired full-time, again as a driver. When people at HODI discovered Stephen had not finished his schooling, they immediately encouraged him to return. “I was hesitant,” he admits. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do it – but this was my big opportunity.”
COVER: Children walking to school in southwest China
What advice does Mr. Mumbi give? “Choose people you relate
HODI, which means ‘may I come in’ in a Zambian language, works throughout rural Zambia, with a focus on food and income security. Navin Vasudev coordinates Oxfam Hong Kong’s projects in southern Africa from his base in Johannesburg, where Neal McKenna is a freelance writer. Oxfam Hong Kong has been supporting HODI www.hodi. org.zm since 2007.
Stephen Mumbi in 2009, as a manager with an Oxfam-supported NGO (left) and as a driver in the 1990s (right).Photographs courtesy of HODI.