Timothy

Let me introduce you to my friend Timothy.

Timothy is 18 years old.  He is the son of a recently graduated bible college student.  After his father graduated, Timothy stayed behind so he could finish his schooling at Jembo High School. 

The Helvie’s have hired Timothy to care for their huge vegetable garden, which he does with consistent skill and care.  He also stays at the Helvie’s house when they are away, so as to protect the house from burglars.  Timothy also takes good care of Bibbi the dog, and Dusty the cat.  Bibbi follows Timothy everywhere and will seek him out whenever she can. At night, Timothy often has to bring Bibbi back to her proper home. She likely sees him as her closest owner.  In all these ways, Timothy is a trustworthy part of the family.

Timothy is in grade 12 at Jembo High School, about a mile’s walk from the Bible college campus.  To make it to grade 12 in Zambia is an achievement in itself since many students have to drop out of school for various reasons.  Some of these reasons include the following: For girls, the most common reason is they have to stay home to care for their younger siblings.  Some become young mothers and wives themselves at this tender age. Most girls don’t reach high school.  Many youth are forced to leave school to help with the family farm during harvest.  You have to pay for school here, so if a family cannot afford to send their many children (an average of 8 per family) to school, plus feed and clothe them and pay for their home, many children will have to drop out at an early age.  If they even so much as cannot buy their school uniform and work-books, they cannot attend.  I have heard a statistic that only 30% of Zambians finish grade 12.

Timothy is in grade 12.  He made it this far because he is very smart.  He’s been awarded scholarships that pay for his tuition, leaving him still with the fees of uniform and books to work for himself. 

From the start, Timothy struck me as a soft-spoken and intelligent young man.  Our first night in Jembo, he joined us for dinner.  I prodded him with some questions about his interests, to which he answered with a grin, “Science and math are my life.”

Jembo high school has begun their class sessions for this 8 week term, however over the last two weeks class has been few and far between.  Students are coming from all over the country to this boarding school, and finding transport is very difficult and expensive.  So Timothy’s upper level classes have not been in session.  This term, Timothy should be taking Geometry, Physics and Chemistry.  The school has been without a Chemistry teacher for three terms, so he won’t be able to take this class. 

Despite the disorganization of the school, Timothy is still eager to learn.  When he’s not tending to his many chores, he can be found with his nose deep in text books. He is teaching himself Chemistry, using a basic chemistry text book he came across.  And since his classes aren’t meeting, he is also teaching himself from his Physics and Geometry books. 

Saturday afternoon Timothy came knocking at my door wondering if I could help him with his science. Inviting him in with a glass of iced tea, I gladly assisted him.  Our afternoon turned out to be more of a refresher course for me as he recited and thought through the things he was discovering in his books.  He is fascinated with Chemistry, currently discovering about the states of matter and very perplexed by the concept of Pressure.

As I made feeble attempts at explaining pressure, we began to rabbit trail from pressure to air pressure to gravity to the Sun’s gravitational pull all the way through the solar system and back to earth to discover tectonic plates and volcanoes and the earth’s core.  Shelagh’s work of grating an onion brought us back to discussing molecules as we felt these onion molecules burn our eyes and nose. Two very fast hours of discussion later our minds were tired but very stimulated. 

During our discussion we came across scientific mysteries of the Sun’s core and black holes and other such things.  At those points, Timothy would get a sparkle in his eye and exclaim, “I’ll be the one to figure it out!” His dream is to have his own ‘laboratory’ surrounded by textbooks so that he can help make medicines.  He hopes to be a ‘Christian scientist’ influencing the world of science with his passionate faith. 

As he shared his dreams with me I encouraged him that his great determination and intelligence would take him far if he stayed motivated. With a stifled smile, He responded with, “I can hope.”

Yes Timothy, you can hope.  And I can hope for you too.  His well-worn clothes and decaying, gapped teeth remind me of his socioeconomic status which keeps him bound to a feeble education system and a struggle to survive.  I have no doubt that, given the right means; Timothy could make his way to the top of the scientific field.  Maybe Timothy could discover a cure for AIDS. 

How many other Timothy’s are there in the world?  Where would we be if all the minds as alert and gifted as his were given an equal opportunity to learn and succeed?

I offered to help Timothy every Saturday with his math and science, and we agreed to a time.  But he looked at me with a smirk and said, “But sometimes there are nights when I am stuck on a problem and I cannot fall asleep because I’m trying to figure it out!” I told him we could make special exceptions for those problems J

I’m grateful for the opportunity to help Timothy.  To feed his knowledge and passion with a part of my own education that might otherwise have gone to waste, and encourage his spirit to continue pursuing his goals. Besides, it is really fun for me too J

Here I am with Timothy after successfully cutting down a stalk of bananas :)