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(LUSAKATIMES, CHOSUN ILBO) Zambian Boy Wins Place in presitigious South Korean University

Zambian Boy Wins Place in presitigious South Korean University
Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 9:52

Kent Kamasumba, a 20-year-old from Zambia, is delighted to have been admitted to Seoul National University’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development in October, only seven months after he left his home to come to Korea. Kamasumba is the first student from Jirisan High School, a small country school of 53 pupils in Sancheong, South Gyeongsang Province, to enter Korea’s most prestigious university. "My dream is to become president of Zambia."

Jirisan High School admits bright students in poor and developing countries through recommendations from Korean missionaries and associations there. If these students perform well in their studies, the school pays for their tuition and living expenses throughout university up to doctoral studies on one condition — they must return to and work for their countries after completing their studies.

Kamasumba lost his father at a young age and had to rely on his relatives because his mother remarried and could not afford to look after him. “Often I had just one meal a day,” he recalls. In February this year, he graduated from a high school in Lusaka, the Zambian capital. A Korean missionary who had noticed Kamasumba’s qualities recommended him to Jirisan High School.

Park Hae-sung, the school’s principal, says, “We select students based on two criteria only — whether they have a strong desire to study, and whether they’re really from a poor family. We have produced 40 graduates, and all of them went to university.”

Kamasumba took classes in English for three foreign students and studied Korean in the school’s library after class. Living in a dormitory and participating in volunteer work after school, Kamasumba befriended his Korean classmates with ease.

“Once I graduate from university, I’m going to go back to Zambia and contribute to my country’s economic development,” he says. “My dream is to become president of Zambia.”

What he fears most for the time being is Korea’s cold winter. The first snow on Mt. Jiri will be the first snow he has ever seen.

[The Chosun Ilbo]

(See original article here)

Labels: KENT KAMASUMBA, KOREA

posted by MrK @ 1:42 PM