I won an essay competition against all odds. Self-belief and dogged determination are the key to attaining your dreams in life, says TIMOTHY KAMBILIMA, who shares a personal experience to prove the point. Read on…

AFTER completing my senior secondary school education at Chililabombwe Secondary School in December, 1992, I joined the then Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM).
I was helped by one of my former neighbours in Zambia Avenue, a Mr Chunda, to be employed as a part-time helper in the maintenance department.
One of the duties in this role was to assist the qualified electricians by carrying a tools bag or box.
Those days were good as jobs were available. We used to get our wages every two weeks and I vividly remember buying snickers, a walk-man radio and a pair of trousers from my first wage.
The rest of the money I gave my late elder sister Bana Judy (Alice Kambilima Malupande ) with whom I was living in C Section near Konkola Stadium.
After getting my school certificate results in 1993, I left ZCCM to join Chililabombwe Municipal Council as a full time employee in the housing department.
To cut a long story short, I later went to train as a teacher at Solwezi Teacher Training College in 1994 in my homeland.
By the way, I had several acceptance letters from various institutions, among them Copperbelt University (CBU), Evelyn Hone College and Lukashya Trades; but I opted to go for the noble teaching profession after comparing the offers.
Let me be quick to point out that although I joined teaching as a last resort, I quickly adjusted and developed interest and love for the career; no wonder up to now I still work like a new teacher in spite of putting in 20 years of unbroken service to mother Zambia.
Well, while at college, I met a lot of men and women who later became friends.
I still remember William Chimushi, Violet Sukumuna, Martin Lukama , Susan Kaira , Dorcus Kamboyi , Rodrick Musonda who is teaching at Luanshya Boys Secondary School and Willies Mulenga who is now head teacher at Chililabombwe.
One day, I was in the college library reading a newspaper, when I came across an advertisement for a competition sponsored by the Zambia Privatisation Agency (ZPA).
The competition was on the advantages and disadvantages of privatisation and it was divided into four categories: university, college, secondary and primary students.
As one who enjoyed reading and writing since primary school time, I got attracted and shared the idea with some of my classmates.
Guess what? They discouraged me, saying I should avoid wasting my time because according to them, such competitions were “pre-determined by people of Lusaka” and the winners would most definitely come from Lusaka.
I almost gave up, but with the self-belief and motivation, I went ahead and started to write after researching on the topic.
Some of the points I got from my unsuspecting college mates during breakfast, lunch and supper discussions were used to write the essay on privatisation.
Since I developed interest in writing while at Chililabombwe Secondary School with the current mayor for the border town Paul Chongo Kabuswe (1988- 1992) , I had no problem to quickly pen the 1,200-word essay simply titled, the advantages and disadvantages of privatisation.
After that, it was business as usual as I had to continue with college assignments and attending those important lectures.
Then, on Friday, 9th November, 1994, during the school assembly, the college principal Mr Charles Yamba announced with pride that one of the first year students had put the name of Solwezi Teachers Training College on the map.
This mysterious announcement triggered lots of anticipation among us, least of all in me.
Who was the student who had bestowed joy and glory on our school? Why was the principal not naming the person quickly and keeping all of us in suspense like in a Hollywood movie?
Believe you me, beaming, he said he had received a call from ZPA that I, Timothy Kambilima, had won third prize in the college category and details would follow later! Proceedings came to a standstill as the entire college went into a wild frenzy of ululations to congratulate me.
I was so excited, ecstatic and overjoyed with the news that I had no words, but only to say “Thank you, God !” as I went to shake hands with the principal for the first time in my college life.
The following day, I got a letter written and signed by Mr Sidney Matanda the manager, publicity and marketing, to officially inform me and confirm the great news.
“We are happy to inform you that you have won 3rd prize (K45,000),” read the letter in part.
On Thursday, November 15, 1994, I attended a prize giving ceremony in Lusaka with the other winners whose names were also published in the Times of Zambia of November in the first week of 1994.
The K45,000 cash prize was a lot of money then and I used part of it to pay boarding fees for the 1995 second academic year.
I also managed to buy a chitenge material (wrap around) for my dear mum.
To cap it all, I also bought a few drinks for my mates, including those who discouraged me from taking part in the competition in the first place.
In life, we should learn to believe in ourselves enough and rationally soldier on with our convictions and decisions we make.
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