I grew up in a rural home in Zambia's Mpongwe district, where my father repaired radios and old television sets for the locals. My father, who had only taught himself, showed me how to fix electronics. Because he lacked engineering training and education, half of his attempts to repair the radio resulted in additional damage or total destruction. That's how I found yet another way to avoid having to repair a radio. I was forced to rely on trial and error because I didn't have access to the internet or a good education at the local community school. This was not a unique experience for me; many young people in my community have had similar experiences and have dropped out entirely.
Thanks to hard work and diligence, I eventually finished high school and was accepted to The Copperbelt University to study mechanical engineering. Many scientific and engineering principles were now clear to me, but I still faced numerous setbacks. Copperbelt University, like many other Zambian universities, lacks properly equipped labs and the modern equipment required for scientific or engineering studies. Engineering students do not graduate with hands-on experience in all areas of engineering. As a result, there is a disparity in the expected quality of engineering outcomes.
Going
back to my rural home as a mechatronics engineering graduate, I have resolved
to change the status quo. Many brilliant children deserve an education in the
practical and fundamental principles of science and engineering. For this
reason, I have built a solution kit that is called ‘ZStudy’. This is an
educational platform inform of a mobile app, a solution that is tailor-made for children in primary
school, Junior secondary and senior secondary and GCE. The ZStudy also has a STEM training Kit, a national award-winning Teaching Tool that helps STEM learners, together with the ZStudy app, guiding them in their scientific and engineering journey till
university education. The STEM teaching kit features a 12 volts rechargeable battery for
a solar-powered that is loaded with local language and English
instructions in the science-based subjects that are offered in schools with an
additional content bias towards programming and electronics. This is to be
coupled with an electronic board which will give the learner hands-on
experience with electronics and programming.
The ZStudy solution kit will be sold to local school communities in Zambia, especially in rural communities,
my home district, in clusters of students so as to make it affordable and
accessible to as many children as possible. Currently, I have already designed
and sold an educational electronic board to one of the universities in Zambia
(Mulungushi University), for the practical learning of the first and second-year
students in Electrical, Electronics, and Mechatronics engineering. This is to
assist in the practical learning of the subjects, seeing that the university
does not have sufficient laboratories through which to teach such.
Given my engineering educational background and passion for my local communities, I have firmly decided to make such problem-solving my life's work. I believe that my passion, experiences, and career goals are a perfect fit for the ZStudy Solve persona. I so desire to bring the best and prime of my capabilities to this cause and my attempts to join this rank of problem solvers are enthusiastic and resolute. I simply want to change lives.
