ZAMBIA - University studies thanks to the scholarship
2025-09-25
A meeting with scholarship participants in Zambia
Martin Burkart, the volunteer coordinator of the Umckaloabo Foundation’s scholarship program, traveled this past August to Lusaka, Zambia with his wife to visit the schools the Foundation supports. One of many highlights of his trip was meeting with 26 scholarship recipients at St. Francis and Clare School. Among them were five graduates of the school who had attended it when it first opened in 2019 and were now enrolled at Zambian universities.
The meeting was a unique opportunity to gain deeper insights into the world of these young adults and see what an impact scholarships have had. Both current students and graduates reported that the school taught them to study with discipline and perseverance, develop their own values, set goals for themselves and pursue their objectives with ambition.
Seizing the opportunity: from the compound to the university
These scholarships have an immense impact for young people: never would they have been able to guess that they could one day make their way out of the poverty of the compound and attend secondary school as well as university. The idea was unthinkable to them. But St. Francis and Clare and the scholarships made this dream possible.
The young people actively made the most of the opportunity they were given. It motivated them to work very hard. They spent some eight hours a day studying at school, often on weekends and holidays as well, before they even began doing homework or helping with housework, looking after younger siblings or assisting with their parents’ jobs. Some students who also initially tried to earn their tuition themselves found that it was too much pressure.
What a scholarship in Zambia means
The scholarship recipients have reported that even fellow students from otherwise stable families had been forced to drop out of school during the pandemic because their parents had lost their jobs. Having a scholarship provides financial security which ensures that schooling can be completed, and it creates the conditions which allow students to be able to dedicate all of their energy to studying. Scholarships let children complete their schooling despite the pandemic. As a expression of their gratitude, students have written poems and even made little presents.
If in doubt, pick “St. Francis and Clare”
When the students have a choice between attending a state school and the Catholic-run St. Francis and Clare, they gladly choose the latter. St. Francis and Clare offers top-quality education; it promotes and expects discipline, and in doing so, it supports independent learning and successful schooling. The great dedication of the teachers and the relatively small class size in comparison to state schools (75 versus 110 at public secondary schools) mean that the teachers can offer more personal attention.
The school is well equipped, especially the library and the labs; this creates a solid cornerstone for good learning. St. Francis and Clare has enough classrooms and teachers to offer classes at the intended capacity. By contrast, at state schools, classes often have to take place in shifts because there is not enough space for all the students.
