Education has no age limit – Musuka

By Winston Muleba II, Zambia
Education unlocks the veil of ignorance says Confred Musuka. 

Musuka is a Biological scientist, Leader and Academician who at the age of 30 and almost 10 years after leaving high school, seriously embarked on rewriting his “O” levels.

In a space of three years he managed to obtain five “O” levels.

From that moment onwards he has never looked back. 

“Soak yourself in books and become educated. It raises one from the shackles of poverty to realms of riches and success,” he says.

Musuka is married to Wamunyima Muliwana and has three children and a granddaughter. 

He says he was born on 1st March, 1962.

“This was orally told to me by my parents and confirmed by those who claimed to have been there. I was born sixth in a family of 12 children, six boys and six girls though so far I have remained with only four siblings, two brothers and two sisters while the rest have passed on. My father was Paison Chakaleka Musuka and my mother was Violet Shalupa. ” Musuka says. 

Musuka explains that he failed to qualify to form one.

“I started school at Chipapa primary school in 1970. In 1976 I managed to enter Grade 7. However, I failed to qualify to Form 1. It was such a bad experience to have not made it despite having put in my best. Nevertheless, I proceeded to Monze Secondary School. In 1983 form five results were released, I realized that mine were not that good because I failed to get a credit in English and Mathematics. I had to re-write the named subjects unfortunately, I only managed a satisfactory grade in English and a complete fail in Mathematics,” he explains. 

He says failure to obtain good grades at Form five taught him a lesson.

“I had nothing else to use for seeking employment or college entrant other than the bad results I had at hand. It looked like I faced a gloom future with the kind of results I had that had relegated me to seeking low paying jobs and inferior grade courses at trades training institutes. This experience ultimately exposed me to harsh realities of life. However, in 1985 I enrolled for a certificate in Fisheries at Kasaka Fisheries Training Centre,” Musuka says. 

Musuka says he currently work for the Copperbelt University.

“Upon completion of my one year course at Kasaka Fisheries Training Centre, I joined the Department of Fisheries in Chilanga. During my tenure of office at Department of Fisheries, I held a number of positions and the last one being Principal Fisheries Training Officer. I also lectured on part-time at the Natural Resources Development College (NRDC) between 2003 and 2008. In 2009, I moved to the Copperbelt University (CBU) where I was employed as a Lecturer in the School of Natural Resources. During the period under review, I was appointed Assistant Dean in 2012 and subsequently, to my current position as Head of Department of Zoology and Aquatic Sciences for another period of two years, effective, 1st April, 2013. In recognition of my little contribution to this institution (CBU), management in its own wisdom gave me a Labour Day Award on 1st May, 2013, for “Most hard working Employee,” he says.

He says his profession started as a passion.

“I had two things in mind, either to be a soldier or be an Agriculture Scientist after completing my education. However, yearly visitations by DoF members of staff to Chipapa dam ignited an interest in me that resulted into my taking up Fisheries Science as a profession. Each time they came I would collect some young fish left over from the catch and together with my colleagues we would construct small ponds where we kept the young fish. We kept them in those ponds for as long they survived. I really enjoyed doing that as it brought happiness to my soul. That passion was finally translated into a dream come true,” Musuka says. 

Musuka says he wants to give his children better opportunities than he had as a child.

“I would never have wanted my children raised up in a similar manner as I grew up, where there were no many schools and healthy facilities in the neighborhood. My wife and I have desired for them to have good education and the best health for all of them. We have encouraged them to take time to appreciate their skills, capacities, their hope, dreams and their fears. Our resolve with them was to earn themselves at least a Diploma in any field of their choice of study. The other two children – apart from Mwalukwanda have followed those instructions to pursue an education,” he says. 

He says education has no age limit.

“Think of it, I got my diploma at the age of 35 years at Bunda College of Agriculture at the time, one of the five constituent Colleges of the University of Malawi. Upon successful completion of the diploma, I graduated with an overall good grades, the administration at Bunda was pleased with my performance and subsequently offered me another chance to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture, with option in Aquaculture. Later on, at the age of 44 in 2006, I finally graduated with a Master’s of Science at University of Malawi. Other than that I have acquired a number of certificates and diplomas in diverse areas, by part-time study and through correspondence as a mature person. Education has no age limit,” Musuka says. 

Musuka highlights some of his best and worst moments in his education journey.

“Failing to qualify to Form 1 despite having put in my best was one of my waste moments in life. Although failure is not final, my inability to make it to Form 1 surprised a number of people. Instead of mourning over my failure, I told myself to forge ahead with life. I had learnt a lesson of how it felt to be a failure. Since I was given another chance to repeat Grade seven in 1977, I had to swallow my pride and went back to wearing a Khaki uniform. I knew that the secret in examination success was to study very hard. Besides, what consoled me most was that even the girl I feared most did not make it too. When I was finally selected to form one in 1978, I faced a lot of challenges to raise money for my school. During the period of my search for financial help, I never cared whether I had taken any food or not, just as it did not also matter how much distance I had covered on foot and how much the rain had poured on me as I moved from one place to another in search of money to help me seek opportunities to further my secondary school education. Even though everything appeared to have gone wrong I remained steadfast, regardless of the undeserved adversities and trials that I was forced to endure. None of these things deterred me from forging ahead with my resolve to cover as much ground as I could with the belief that surely someone’s heart would be prompted to render help in that regard,” he says. 

He shares thats his happiest time in life was when he finally defended his Masters of Science thesis. 

“The gesture was touching considering that my colleagues had taken money from their own pockets to organize a surprise party for me. The second happiest moment of my life was when I was given a job as Lecturer by the Copperbelt University,” he shares.

He says life is never a “clear and clean path”.

“Change is one of the most difficult things for people to face; someone once said, “The only person who likes change is a wet baby.” However, change is inevitable. One reason most people don’t like change is because they are scared of it. They would rather get comfortable with where they are in life as opposed to stepping out of their “Comfort Zone.” They get used to their friends, job or place they live. And even if things were not perfect, they accepted them simply because they were familiar with them. In my whole life I have come to understand that life is never a clear and clean path, it is in fact full of a number of challenges. It is more of a race that one trains hard with the hope of winning. In an event that such an individual fails to win the race, he or she should not feel frustrated or discouraged but accept it as another lesson learnt. God allows certain people to pass through difficult times not to frustrate them but to teach them a lesson. Some of the challenges I have gone through include: being orphaned at a tender age of six (6) years, hunger and lack of proper shelter, clothing, failure in school and unemployment. Therefore, hard work was an inevitable virtue. By God’s grace I have managed to pull through,” Musuka says. 

Musuka says time has finally come for him to climb the ladder of success.

“Staying positive is what has made me to be where I am today because I believe I am neither here by mistake nor by accident, but by the will of God, my creator. I was born a non-entity, went through pain and suffering, where disappointments were the order of the day. The road to success was rough and ragged, characterized by storms and valleys and the world seemed to be full of confusion and yet not. Yes, although I was born to a very poor family that did not imply that I was automatically poor considering the great potential God had placed in me,” he says.

“Time has finally come for me to climb the ladder of success and move on up to cloud nine. Having worked so hard and excelled in my profession, I am poised to do a lot more things. So far I strongly believe that I have done very well in the area of teaching and research. I for one strongly believe that it does not matter what people have said regarding your destiny. I was so determined not to let go any chance that came my way because I was alive to the fact that I had done something unusual, thus, Living my Dream and Fulfilling my Destiny. It was indeed my earnest wish and desire that one day I would be independent and able to stand on my own in terms of business, especially Real Estates.” 

He points that he has drawn inspiration from many people.

“I have drawn a lot of inspirations from so many people including Professor Legson Kayira, who walked from his tribal village of Tumbuka in Nyasaland (now Malawi) to Khartoum, Sudan, a distance of 3, 200 kilometers, seeking opportunities for further education, become a professor of political science at Cambridge University in England and a widely respected author; Abraham Lincoln, who had risen from poverty to become an American president and fought tirelessly to abolish slave trade, thereby helped free the slaves; My mother had a profound impact on my life. She helped me to shape my morals, values and destiny. I personally owe her a lot, both in life and death. Musuka says he enjoys reading, writing, traveling, making friends, motivating others and going to church. 

He says he would want to be remembered as someone who encouraged others to keep on trying, not giving up easily and living to fulfill their dreams. 

Education has no age limit, swallow your pride and go back to school. You can do it. 

For comments:  mwenyamuleba@gmail.com / 0966 461 943/0950 594 050