Thread by @mentorshipzim

My name is Eric Khumalo. I grew up in Bulawayo. I know that area like the back of my palm! I studied at Matshayisikova Primary in New Luveve, Mzinyathini High at Esigodini for my O-Levels and *THE* Mpopoma High School for my A-Levels. It is the best in Zim, non-debatable😜

I was raised by my single mom with four of my siblings. I'm the middle child. My dad passed away. I last saw him before starting first grade but his love for his queen still keeps us moving, hopeful and together. My mom worked as a maid in the suburbs to help take care of us.

She raised us well, just look at what a fine young man I turned out to be! Literally, shift your eyes a little to the left and observe 😂. Enough with the joking, let me move on with my story.

I always tell people that there are 2 gifts that shaped my life. The first was given to me in 2006 by my uncle. I was in Grade 6. He visited from 🇧🇼 and brought me a scientific calculator, an atlas from Botswana and a copy of Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart". [Second Hand]

The second and most heartfelt gift I have ever received was from my mother. She copied an entire Student Companion on an A5 Croxley 3-Quire Counter Book. She even used that 4 colour pen to make sure that the book was very captivating to read. She could not afford a new one.

She would also sneak books from her employer's bookshelves for me to read. I had to bathe first and use a dishtowel to wrap around the book so that they wouldn't become dirty. I finished reading all 7 @jk_rowling's Harry Potter books this way in 2008 before watching the movies.

Okay, okay, enough yip yapping I'm getting to the point. My mom and uncle's gifts shaped my interests. I love Mathematics (and sciences), literature, geography and history. In short, I just love humanity!

I was a scholarship/financial aid since Grade 3. I benefited from BEAM, and multiple individuals and agencies to finance my education. The Methodist Church, Luveve branch played a pivotal role in supporting my mom with raising us.

I finished my Advanced Levels in 2013 with straight As in Math, Physics, Chemistry and Further Math. I got accepted into @usapglobal which greatly helped finance my application to study in the United States. I started my undergrad in 2015 and graduated last year.

In March 2014, I started volunteering as an A-Level Math teacher at Nketa High. I did that because the school's headmistress once gave me a lift in 2011 on my way back home when I was tired from walking from extra lessons.

I taught at Mate Secondary School, John Landa Nkomo High School in the 2nd term of 2014 and 1st term of 2015 respectively. I spent the time in between as an Intern at the American Corner in Bulawayo(now NUST American Space).

While teaching at J Landa, I used to visit Tsholotsho High School on weekends to volunteer with teaching Advanced Level Math. The school hired me as an assistant and teacher for the month of April and May before I came to study in the US.

In this short space of time, I finished the remaining ~70% of the O-Level syllabus for Physical Science. My 21 students got a 100% pass-rate of 8 As, 11Bs and 2 Cs. They are all over the world now. Same with A-Level Math, the school has been getting a 100% pass-rate ever since.

In 2019, I took a gap semester and went back home to start Emzini weCode (@emziniwecode). The vision is to get more Zimbabweans to learn how to code. I'll share more about this in a later thread. Stay tuned.

I was an intern at Twitter in the summer(May to Aug) of 2016, 2017 and 2018 working on Account Security, AntiSpam and Information Quality Teams respectively.

PS: I do not have the power to verify accounts nor know the entity that does 😂

I also worked with Berkeley Research IT on High-Performance Computing in partnership with the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. I write poetry, lots and lots of poems. I spend a lot of time mentoring younger students and discussing bold ideas with the Zimbabwean Startup Founders.

This above is the skeleton of my life story. Feel free to fill in the blanks with occasional partying, being a regular on the @ByoMemes Instagram comments (For the LOLs) and a loving uncle to my kids♥️

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