By FELIX MALUNGA –
AMERICAN professional photojournalist, Dewitt Jones once wrote: “It’s not trespassing to go beyond your own boundaries.”
Jones’ expression fits the situation that 12-year-old Oswald Mulaba found himself in after jumping over a boundary wall at Nchanga Golf Club in Chingola on December 12, 2012.
Driven by passion, Mulaba, who lives at Sekela Flats on the eastern side of the golf club, climbed over the boundary wall of the course with a sole purpose of playing golf.
After storming the Nchanga golf course through hole number seven, Mulaba, who was putting on a wrong gear for the sport was spotted loitering by then local professional player, Vincent Kabaso.
In trying to justify why he had to jump over the fence to gain access to the course, Mulaba explained that he was encouraged by Nchanga junior golfer, Aaron Kushikwa to take up the sport
Instead of punishing the then eight-year-old for trespassing, Kabaso, who was training juniors at the time, opted to give Mulaba a chance to realise his golfing dream.
Probably, Kabaso remembered the biblical teaching that:”Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
“When Vincent Kabaso asked what I was doing on the course, I told him that ‘ I have come to play golf’ despite being in a wrong gear (wore school shoes). Vincent decided to give me a chance by taking me to the range where he gave me a junior golf club and I started hitting balls,” Mulaba, a third-born son to the late Misheck Mulaba, said.
It was not all rosy for the youngster to realise his dream as soon his mother after noticing that his son was patronising the golf club ordered him to stop visiting the place, fearing that Mulaba could meet some bad company.
“My mother was against my playing golf because of a misconception that I can become a caddie and begin to make some money at such a tender age. She thought I could become a bad kid by associating with golfers,” he recalls.
Despite some resistance from home, Mulaba did not give up his cherished dream and Kabaso aided him with the right golf attire and kit to be able to play the sport.
With such burning desire to be a golfer, it took young Mulaba just a month to compete in his first tournament at Nchanga.
It was a fundraising golf tournament where to the amazement of the local Chingola golfing fraternity, Mulaba, playing off 36 handicap, was the best junior during the event and earned himself a mathematical set and school bag in prizes.
His dream was further brightened when he was given an opportunity to participate in a national junior tournament at Chainama Hills Golf Club in Lusaka in 2013 where against all odds Mulaba shockingly finished overall third in the 18-hole category.
Next up for him was a shot at the Mufulira Junior Open Championship where Mulaba came out second in the under-13 category.
He was finally crowned a champion after beating all budding golfers to win the 2014 Nchanga Junior Open.
“After winning the Nchanga Junior Open, I realised that I can also be a champion. This inspired me to work even harder to become a better player,” he said.
Kabaso, who has relocated to the United States of America, decided to adopt Mulaba and another Luanshya-based junior by supporting them academically and providing golfing equipment.
With the kind of support Mulaba was getting from Kabaso, Nchanga and golfing fraternity, his mother changed her mind and started encouraging him not to give up his dream.
Proving that he is indeed a potential star in Zambia, Mulaba on April 13 this year bagged the Mazabuka Junior Open Championship with an astonishing six-under-par 66 score.
After scooping the Mazabuka event he declared that his target was to become a professional golfer.
Mulaba said his inspiration was one of the world’s most successful golfers of all time, Eldrick Tont ‘Tiger’ Woods, an American professional player and one of the highest-paid athletes globally for several years.
During school holidays, Mulaba, a Grade Eight pupil at Nabonga Secondary School in Chingola, practices four times a week and only on Saturdays when schools reopen.
Nchanga Golf Club captain, Panji Phiri said the club was proud of Mulaba’s progression and that always encouraged him to prioritise school.
“For any child that comes here (Nchanga Golf Club), education is priority number one including discipline. These are the fundamentals which make any child succeed,” Phiri, whose club boasts of more than 40 juniors, said in an interview. Club vice-captain, William Phiri, who is in charge of junior golf at Nchanga, said: “Oswald is something special. His level of consistency is incredible. He is a joy to watch.”
With the kind of support that he enjoys, the sky may not even be the limit for Mulaba.
He could soon be hitting the headlines and start following in the footsteps of the likes of Madalitso Muthiya and Dayne Moore among other locals who made it big as juniors before later turning professional.