23/12/2025
☑️ A GLANCE AT MY ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY
Part 2:
Following my second exclusion from the University of Zambia, I stayed home for two years during which I attempted several endeavours. First, I enrolled for an accounting course (AAT) for which I attended tuitions twice a week in the evening at Lusaka Private High School near COMESA Market. However, after attending classes for three weeks, I quit on account of two reasons:
(a) I found the accounting concept of "double entry" (credit vs debit) confusing.
(b) The class was too small for my comfort. Apart from me, there were only two other students whose accounting "competence and understanding" appeared much worse than mine!
The thought of continuing with the accounting course gave me goose pimples! I could literally see another looming academic fiasco, which my mind was obviously not ready to handle!
Admittedly, I felt frustrated with any further academic pursuit. The fear of failure overwhelmed me. I needed to find something else to keep me occupied, and earn me an income. Probably, that would restore my confidence and repair my damaged self-esteem. I shared my thoughts with a few close friends.
In this regard, a former classmate at Hillcrest, who was working as an accountant after obtaining a Zambia Diploma in Accountancy (ZDA), arranged an inrerview for me for a clerical job at Unifinance Bureau de Change located on Cairo Road in Lusaka. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. One interview question that threw me off-balance was, "With the 4 A-levels that you possess from UNZA, do you believe that you are better than an ordinary Grade 12 in relation to the performance of the job we are interviewing you for?"
I have never felt so stupid and so dull in my life. To start with, the job content was totally unknown to me. The job was not publicly advertised for me to appreciate its actual tasks or key result areas. My short written application letter was on the basis of non-detailed verbal information shared by my former classmate.
Now, my mind "told" me that the employment "door" was shut because I didn't have any specific pre-job training or qualification.
What next?
I decided to venture into the sale of "game meat!" There was a strong rumour that I could buy some from Nyawa Chiefdom in Zimba District for resale in Lusaka. To raise my start-up capital, I performed a few menial jobs in the neighbourhood. Owing to my humble disposition, it was easy for the neighbours to hire me to clean their surroundings, dig pits or slash their overgrown grass.
Upon arrival in Nyawa, I was welcomed and accommodated by a family that once lived in Kaunda Square (Lusaka) and relocated to their village after retirement from formal employment. They were not expecting me, but I just showed up. At the time, there were no mobile phones.
When I explained my mission, the male head of the host family responded that, "You needed to have brought with you some bullets. Here, they are in short supply. In the absence of that, it will take long for hunters to source bullets and go into the bush to slaughter impalas."
Indeed, I stayed for a complete month without success. Then, one evening, I saw my mother suddenly arrive, looking tired, weak and dehydrated. My heart broke! She had travelled to follow up on me, moving from one village to another until she found me. She and the rest of the family back home were worried sick about my welfare. They didn't know what was happening with or to me. They wondered whether I was still alive!
The next morning, my mother and I travelled back to Lusaka. Once again, I had failed; this time, in my entrepreneurial endeavour!
JK.
