Estimated reading time: 3-4 minutes.
Meet the coaches
In ‘Meet the coaches’ we present the true heroes of Hockey Dreams. The coaches combine education and coaching to strengthen both themselves and their communities. These ambitious and driven youngsters are ready to make their mark on the world. Njovu Jackson is one of our Zambian Hockey Dreams Coaches and shares his school life and future plans.
Hi!
My name is Jackson, I am one of the Hockey Dreams Coaches in Zambia and I play as goalkeeper for the Zambezi Hockey Club. I have a family of four and I am the third born of my family. I live with a single parent who is my mother, my two brothers, and my first born sister. Only two of my siblings (out of four) go to school: Jackson and the last born, Michael. And of course, I go to school.
I started school in 2018 at the Mambilima Primary School – Lusaka, Zambia. I did my first, two and third grade and then I had to stop because we moved from Matero to the compound of John Laying – both in Lusaka. Here I passed my grade four and five. Then we moved back again from John laying to Matero where I started schooling again at the Chingwele Primary School. Here I passed my sixth and seventh grade and both wrote and passed my exam.
I went to Junior Secondary School and passed with excellent grades and in six subjects, after which I attended Junior High School at the North Mead Secondary School. Here I finished both my tenth and eleventh grade, and now I am doing my last grade: grade twelve.
My ambition
When I complete school I think I would like to become a police officer as a career, as police officers maintain law and order in the country. The major reason I want to be a police officer is that I want to make a difference in situations of child abuse, child labour, and both early marriages and early pragnancies in Zambia. These are becoming real problems in Zambia.
Young girls get pregnant at a tender age and stop going to school, because if she does, no one will remain looking after the baby. The Zambian government is trying everything possible to stop the spread of child abuse and early marriages but they seem to struggle. I do not know where they fall short because they do all that is possible, but I will try covering the gap when I complete school and then make a real difference.
“I will try covering the gap of child abuse and early marriages when I complete school and then make a real difference.”
Today’s school life
My favorite subject is biology, but I want to study law. Biology is my favourite subject for the reason that I do well in it, but I can possibly do both. The teacher who teaches biology is such a great person; I understand almost everything he teaches and that is why biology is my favourite subject.
His name is Mr Mumba. He is very patient compared to other teachers at school. If you have not understood anything, you can ask and he responds positively and makes sure you then do understand.
I have quit a lot of friends in class and these are the people whom I interact with and share the same desk with in class. We do our school work together and share certain ideas. For example, if you do not know how to work out the school work that has been given by the teacher, my friends come to the rescue and help out.
Now and then we also share food, books, dictionaries and anything you need concerning school; if the person has it they will help. We even put money together to buy ourselves food during break time. The classmates I am talking about are Rhoda Banda, Grace Godfrey, Tembo Patrick and Meweemba Francis.
“Now and then me and my friends also share food, books, dictionaries and anything you need concerning school; if the person has it they will help. We even put money together to buy ourselves food during break time.”
Most of the time I go to school on foot, but whenever I have money I board a bus. If I do not go by bus you will find that I am late and therefore walk beside the road asking for a lift. Most of the time people care to give me a lift to school so that I am in time. Thank you for reading! This was my story.
