Dreams despite hardship

Ngosa (16) lives in a small room at his school in Zambia. He started living at school last year when his situation at home became unmanageable. His father died in 2015 and his mother remarried. Ngosa says: “My stepfather doesn’t like me. Every time they quarrel, it is about me.”

There wasn’t enough food to feed everyone in the family and Ngosa was worried about his mother.

“It broke my heart that they fought about me. They argued always about lacking food. My mother can’t leave because she has five children and they would suffer [if she was alone].”

Sometimes his mother hid food for Ngosa because his stepfather didn’t want him to eat. Eventually, she told him to go and live with his grandparents, but Ngosa says the problem was the same there.

“Every time there was a fight, it was about food. It made no sense to stay there. I wanted to live alone.”

“When I think about my situation, I feel lonely. It’s just bad.”

Ngosa’s school is not a boarding school, but teachers allowed him to have a small room so that he could continue with his education. This also meant that a daily meal would be provided for him each day from Mary’s Meals.

“Now I am doing well at school. I want to be a pilot. I want to fly to South America.”

Ngosa’s favourite subjects are math and English.

“The issue is that we are lacking in food. But with the porridge, we can manage. We can even go the whole day with just this because it is filling.”

“It helps many people in the community because the children can’t bring food to school. It’s nice that they can eat. I know one day, I will do well. I make much effort in my lessons.”

Ngosa is confident that he’ll be soon be taking to the skies, and he’ll make his loved ones proud: “My future will be good. My parents trust me that I will do well and I want to show them what education can do.”