Jun 7

Written by:
07/06/2011 10:26 

Zimbabwean musician Nkosi Ka Ndlovu from Wolverhampton tells us about his dream to transform his old primary school and make a difference in the lives of the next generation back in his home village Nkayi.

My early years of education were at primary school in the rural parts of Zimbabwe, Matebeleland North in Nkayi, to be more specific.Zidulini Primary School did not attract the best of teachers one reason being because of the under-development in this part of the country.As a young boy I went to school barefooted and had my classes under a tree because there was no classroom to house us. Teachers were often faced with big classes (with a ratio of 60 students to 1 teacher) which made it not only hard but almost impossible to provide individual supervision to each student.

An inspirational father

It was up to the individual to motivate themselves and their parent’s encouragement that one achieved the requisite grade.My father was a big inspiration in my life; he kept on encouraging me and used to tell me success stories of people who had humble beginnings. Out of this optimism and the inspiring stories from my father I was determined to aim high.

The UK – a land of opportunities

It's general belief amongst some of my countrymen in Zimbabwe that your education is incomplete if you have not studied abroad (particularly in the UK). This maybe as a result of the inherited system of education and shared heritage brought to us by our former colonizers.English is the official language in Zimbabwe and all academic learning is also conducted in this language. It is against this background that I started making some moves to come to the UK and further my studies.

Today I have achieved beyond what I could have ever of imagined during my days at Zidulini primary School; in 2008 I graduated twice with good grades at the University of Wolverhampton.