A Recent Speech Given by a Board Member Victoria Akuzike to Our Students
My name is Victoria Akuzike Wane, born to Martin and Rose Wane on 21st September 1969. In fact I have a twin brother and other six siblings. We are five girls and two brothers but one is late. My father was a teacher by profession and a strict disciplinarian while my mother is a retired nurse. I was inspired by the success story of my own father, how he excelled from being a primary school teacher to a college lecturer through hard work and remaining focused on what he wanted to achieve in life. In our local language there is an adage which says “pali njira zambiri zophera asakhwi” which simply means that there are many means to an end. He used to instill the same spirit in us that we should not look down upon ourselves if things have not gone well at one point in life as there is always hope in the future.
When I did not get admission into the university soon after completing my secondary school education, my father told me that “if you miss the bus you go by Matola”. In old days in my country buses as a means of transport only travelled once a day or week in most rural areas, and when you miss it, then you had to find an alternative way of how you will reach your destination since there were few buses. One of the alternatives was to board any open vehicle like a lorry or pick-up hence the name “Matola”. One thing for sure is that although travelling by ‘matola’ may not be as pleasant as travelling by bus but, it will still get you to your destination if you are willing to do so. This is exactly what I did, to get where I am today. I started off as a primary school teacher and taught in three schools for about seven years. Later I decided to upgrade myself to a secondary school teacher by going back to school where I earned my Diploma in Education. I taught for two years and decided to change fields when an opportunity came since I never wanted to be a teacher in the first place. I applied for a degree program at the University of Malawi where I obtained my Bachelor of Arts (HRM) in 2007. After graduating from college I still taught for one year but later got a job with Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development as a Human Resource Management Officer. Just last year I was promoted to the position of Principal Administrative Officer , so you can see that although I did not get initial admission into the University but I have made my way through because I never underestimated my efforts. Life is what you make, so they say, and resources permitting, I am hopeful that I will do my Masters in the near future.