Jean's Uncommon Story

It’s not often that we receive letters anymore, but the other day I received one from a girl named Jean. Handwritten, loose leaf paper.?

Jean and I go way back. She was 8 or 9 years old when we met and she’s 15 now, so I’ve known her nearly half her life. Like her, I was younger when we met too. 24 and off on a grand adventure, I was her teacher. Ironic, as it's Jean who’s done the teaching.

We live on opposite sides of the world. Jean in #Zimbabwe, me in the United States. But in 2017 I traveled there, with friends, to teach #coding to kids.?

Jean was one of the students in the first class we ever taught at Uncommon.org . As she put it in her recent letter to me, “the coding program which seemed to me as a form of entertainment, has made a record in my life.”?

In her letter, she asked me to share her story. So I will try to do that a bit here. Using memories of mine, and words of hers, that she’s shared and I’ve cherished over the years.

Before we begin, it’s important to note that this is not a story of poverty, this is a story of excellence.

I don’t know Jean’s home, I’ve never been there. But I know her neighborhood well. I know that opiates and crystal meth have ravished Dzivarasekwa because one of my colleagues told me so.?

He was a student of ours, but we had to let him go after his laptop went missing for the second time. Turns out he was addicted to dombo (crystal meth). When I was in Dzivarasekwa recently he took me to the abandoned car he and his friends used to sit in and get paranoid high. By the grace of God, he made it out. He’s back with us now, clean, working as a software developer and training for his Google Cloud Associate Engineer certificate. His friends, he’s not so sure…thinks they may have lost their minds. But this is Jean’s story, his is one for another time.

I don’t know much about Jean’s family life either, except that her mother seems wonderful and has very dutifully updated me on “my little sister’s” progress over the years.?

But I do know the very real plight of women and girls in the neighborhood. Not because I can relate, just because I know many women and girls in the neighborhood who have shared their very real plight.?

The threat of idle boys and predatory men lurks. Joblessness and food insecurity pushes some to trade their bodies for bread. A lack of sex education entraps. Teen pregnancies and early marriages have stunted generations.?

Countless young, single mothers have joined our program after school and family have had to abandon them. Sadly, some young ladies have had to abandon us too, when it became their turn to confront the realities of life on the edge.

But Jean’s story is different. The edge Jean has been living on is the edge of greatness. In her recent letter to me she began by reminding me of her journey and her achievements since first learning how to code years ago:

2020?

• Offered a scholarship to St Michael’s High School as a boarder (which was my wish)?

2021

• Best student in International COVID-19 letter writing competition for the school district
• Second position at the Provincial level (letter writing competition)
• Appointed as a prefect of the school

2022

• Best Computer Science student
• Best science student in biology, physics and chemistry
• Best in Mathematics

2023

• Appointed senior prefect for the school
• Overall best student at St. Michael’s High (won a Lenovo laptop and several awards!)
• National Level:?Outstanding student in Chemistry Olympiads
• Applied for a scholarship to attend the USAP Community School for high-achieving, low-income students; attended the selection interview and was ACCEPTED!

Jean has inspired me for a very long time, but this last part is really why I wanted to share her letter.?

Education Matters Africa is the extraordinary organization that operates the USAP Community School which takes in high achieving Zimbabweans from underprivileged backgrounds for Advanced Level studies, and helps them apply to top tier colleges and universities in the United States.?

The university banners and flags that line the Education Matters office walls tells a story of academic excellence. Attending a world class institution coming from a place like Dzivarasekwa is almost too impressive to grasp, and what it could mean for Jean and her family is hard to put into words.

With continued hard work, she will do it. Jean will continue on this path to greatness and the course of her life may well forever change.?

At the end of her letter she wrote that she would be very happy if I shared her news with everyone that contributed in any way, to making her a star. “Someday,” she said, “[she is] going to change the world, and [if she does] it will be largely because of you.”

Thank you to everyone in the Uncommon community who, directly or indirectly, has supported Jean along the way.?

Years ago, you helped provide an opportunity, and that’s all she ever needed.?

Updates:

I just received this message from the founder of USAP:

“I was so excited at school this past week when Jean came up to me on the second day of school and asked "Do you know Peter Kazickas?" and then told me her Uncommon story, of starting at age 8 and being in the first Uncommon cohort.? It's really a testament to the success of the Uncommon vision that she is now doing A level with us, one of 45 L6 students accepted from over 600 applications, and undoubtedly that she will continue to a university internationally with a bright future ahead.”