As little kids we dream big, wanting to be heroes of our own stories. But for many underprivileged youths in Malawi, these dreams stay dreams when every day is a struggle to survive. With expensive school tuition fees, few families can afford to support their children's education, especially like Lodrick Jaminson's family, where feeding 8 mouths is a daily battle. Lodrick's family had been surviving on selling buckets of water and doing small pieces of work, but with the unending inflation of the economy, they could not afford to keep him in school. Good Soil Partners met Lodrick Jaminson in 2016 when his chances of reaching secondary level in school were looking bleaker by the day. GSP paved the way for Lodrick to go to secondary school and in the process, paid for his school fees and resources. 

Lodrick says,“I am the second person in my village, to ever complete my secondary school, and this is no joke to me!  The moment I got a scholarship from Good Soil Partners, a friend of mine who had just dropped out of school, approached me and said, ‘I know Chiuzira is going to be transformed through you.’  Now my plan is to transform the youth community in Chiuzira.”

With his secondary education under his belt, Lodrick looks to encourage the young kids in his community to venture into the business field. His passion is to help kids who cannot afford to pay for their education to start a small business that can help provide money for them to go! Lodrick has also ventured into his own business of selling charcoal and uses the money he earns to help provide food and other daily necessities for his family. He believes that the way to a person’s heart is through generosity and that starting a business, no matter how big or small, sets a great example to the younger generation. As Lodrick advances in his education, he looks to study Social-Economic History at a University! He knows that pursuing an education at a higher level will help encourage his siblings to work hard towards school and will help pave a way for their futures.

“I know what it’s like to have inadequate resources for school, I would like to lift off some of the burdens for youngsters in finding school necessities.  All in all, I thank God for my achievements so far; I pray that He expands Good Soil Partners boundaries and I know that my story will speak to multitudes.”

*written by Theodora Kachingwe