Meet Phumelela Nzama, Who Was Once a School Dropout, Now a Beacon of Hope for the Youth in His Community
- Phumelela Nzama is a qualified teacher who has made it his mission to educate and empower youth in his community
- For Phumelela, his childhood was perfect until he was drawn into a life of smoking and drinking, and eventually failing his matric
- However, he changed his life around, and through his organisation Awaken The Giant Within Tutors, Phumelela has helped many youngsters who struggle to read and write
- The young man spoke to Briefly News about his passions, how he also overcame alcohol and substance abuse, and his dream of owning an education centre
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"Education improves, and education brings about knowledge, and knowledge is power."
This is according to education enthusiast Phumelela Nzama, who, through his passion and tutoring organisation, is helping enrich the minds of young people one book and lesson at a time.
Source: UGC
Born and bred in Bonela in Durban, the focused young man holds a UNISA degree in teaching for both intermediate and senior phases.
He is also the proud founder of Awaken The Giant Within Tutors, which he established and registered in 2019. The organisation encompasses a range of educational tools, such as assisting learners who cannot read and write, helping with their school work and preparing learners for exams.
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Although Phumelela has always valued education, the young man spoke to Briefly News about how he almost lost his way as a youngster.
What Phumelela's early years looked like
For Phumelela, his childhood was perfect! He opened up about how his parents were there for him and his brother and made sure they loved education by making it a point to check on their homework daily.
"Our parents wanted us to stay indoors and focus on our school work, and then on weekends, we could go out and play.
"Then growing up, I met up with friends who smoked cigarettes and weed and later moved to drugs.
"I wanted to taste all of these things then I started smoking too, which was fun at first but later on, it wasn't because it affected me negatively.
"I started to lack at school, started misbehaving and my confidence went down. I started to fail at school.
"I failed my matric and gave up. My young brother Sazi Nzama motivated me to go back to school and finish my matric, because I was offered a job."
Phumela is grateful to his supportive parents, who also encouraged him to go back to school, which he did.
Phumelela told himself that he would never fail again. Although it wasn't easy, he turned his back on drinking and smoking. God eventually made a way for him to quit, he told Briefly News.
The educator also sadly lost his father this year in September and said it was a painful experience that crushed him.
Phumelela possesses a passion for teaching
Phumelela shared his passion for teaching and said seeing a child actively use their mind while attempting to answer a question was a rewarding experience for him.
"I just like to see them use their minds and try. Sometimes you see them using their fingers to count or stare in one place to think. I love that.
"I love to see them become creative and responsible in their school work. To see them confident in themselves."
Asked what his take was on people who believe that school is not for everyone, the young man said:
"I think that's their own opinion, but for me education is important and we all need it. Without it, we limit our minds and lives.
"When you know more, you can be more and do more."
Phumelela's work is particularly challenging when parents don't do the tasks he has asked them to do, such as checking on their child's work or helping them with their reading.
How Phumelela goes about enriching young minds
Phumelela uses different strategies to determine which will work best for each learner. He shared that as a teacher and a tutor, it is essential to have different approaches to teaching as children grasp information differently.
"It is vital to teach at that child's level of thinking or go lower than that for the individual to understand.
"Sometimes I do peer learning with them where they assist each other but only use a responsible child to assist a struggling one while I monitor them.
"These pupils make you think of new ways to teach them and that makes one creative and I love that, because they bring out the best in you," he shared.
The teacher has worked with children who came to Awaken Giant Within Tutors not knowing how to read or even write their names, and he made it a personal goal to change that. Phumelela said he is not always impressed with good grades but rather with hard work, dedication, and the knowledge they acquire.
"At some schools you'll find learners who pass but don't fully grasp what they have been taught," said Phumelela, who recently assisted a security guard work toward obtaining his diploma.
Phumelela looking onto the future
The qualified teacher told Briefly News that if he could change one thing about South Africa, it would be people's mindsets. Phumelela dreams of a society of people who think positively and seek to educate and feed their minds with knowledge.
"In that manner people will have dreams and visions that they will want to pursue. Once that is fixed people will start to depend on themselves and not rely on the government.
"If our mindsets are changed, our homes, communities and country would improve too," he said.
Phumelela dreams of one day owning an educational centre that will accommodate everyone and, later in life, perhaps even a private school.
"It will be a centre which will continue to assist kids with their school work, and serve as a finishing school by providing ABET classes.
"A library and other key skills such as gardening, sewing, plumbing, brick laying, electricity, communication, and creative skills would also be available."
Free State woman aims to empower youth through entrepreneurship training and creating jobs in her community
In another story, Briefly News reported that a young woman from Warden, in the Free State, is determined to create jobs for young people in her community and started a non-profit organisation (NGO) called the Alinah Mazibuko Foundation, which is named after her.
Phumelala looking onto the future with various other projects and works with the Activate Change Drivers NGO, which aims to uplift the youth and help them become leaders who can contribute positively to society and the economy.
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Source: Briefly News
