One Student At A Time - The Story of Sharlortte

By Annabel Mumba
Annabel Mumba is AEP’s Donor Relations Coordinator in Zambia. She is a Scholarship Fund recipient, high school graduate, and also one of our Success Stories.

Co-written by Pamela O’Brien, African Education Program’s Development Director, who is mentoring Annabel as she pursues a journalism degree.

Shalortte is one of the many youths at the Amos Youth Centre (AYC) with so many dreams to achieve. After being in AYC’s Scholarship Program since 2017, she has nurtured the desire to go to a trade school to study agriculture.

The 22-year-old exhibits so many talents and skills that a career path at a vocational trade school for skills training did not come as a shock to many people who know her. Her resiliency and determination to do any type of job or activity, even if it is considered a man’s job, is one amazing fact about her. She has won medals in Football, Athletics and Judo competitions in the past too.

At first glance, Shalortte is shy, reserved and observant but she is quick to learn. With three brothers and one sister, she has had an upbringing that was never uninspired. Her mother sells water along the road side and has benefited from AYC’s Entrepreneurship & Financial Literacy Program Parent Training. After graduating from the four-month training, Shalortte shared that her mother’s business has improved and she is now selling groceries in addition to water.

Shalortte started playing sports when she was 9 years old. She used to take part in the school’s athletic competitions and run in many relay races. In 2020, she started playing for a football team called Young Eagles Football Club that is owned by the Zambia National Service (ZNS). During the Independence Women’s Soccer Tournament, she received an award for Best Player and her team won a gold medal for Best Team.

In 2021, Shalortte took part in a Judo competition organized by the Judo Association of Zambia and won a silver medal along with a certificate.

Her education history is very interesting. Shalortte has made many attempts to pass her grade 9 exams, but has not succeeded. But this does not deter her! She says that her strength is in doing manual work but still holds a desire to one day graduate from secondary school.

Sharlotte poses for the camera in front of the Amos Youth Centre.

Earlier this year, Sharlotte started a business of selling vegetables to the locals in her community. She raised capital for her business by doing odd jobs like cleaning her neighbours front yards and farming. She now spends her mornings going house to house selling vegetables. She is hoping that this business will help her create a stable income. It is awesome to see Sharlotte’s entrepreneurial traits come out. She says her biggest motivation for everything she does is herself.

Shalortte is scheduled to start trade school in January 2023 at the Kafue Institute for a six-month program in Agriculture. She is very excited to start this new program. Her dream is to become a soldier and play for the Zambia Women’s Football Team. She wants to work and serve her country.

The Amos Youth Centre believes in vocational skills development for students like Shalortte and the center provides career counseling for students like her to undertake this venture.

The story of Shalortte is one of the kind and a gentle reminder that you can be a jack-of-all-trades and master them too!