LONG JOURNEY LEADS TO CONVOCATION

Excerpt from "Demonstrating Excellence" a newsletter of The University of Winnipeg, Summer 1998, Volume 3, Number 2.

 

Should Mzi Ndlovu reach you by phone in the near future, please take a moment to congratulate him.  The star student caller for our private funding department, Mzi, just graduated with his Bachelor of Arts. 

 

It's been a long journey for Mzi from rural Gwanda, Zimbabwe where he grew up to The University of Winnipeg Convocation stage - one made possible only through serendipity, sheer willpower, and the generosity of the many who helped him along the way.

The oldest of seven children, Mzi was chosen to go abroad and study.  His family and his community contributed funds - amounting, he says, to their entire life savings -to fund his trip to Canada in 1989.  Once here, he enrolled in a local Bible college. 

 

Although he spoke only rudimentary English, he was determined to succeed.  "I didn't want to let my people down because I knew how much they had sacrificed for me."  To learn the language, he read for hours every night - The Globe and Mail, The Economist, Canadian Speeches, the Bible -anything that seemed worthwhile.

 

After three years and with the support of many friends, Mzi left the Bible college and enrolled in The Collegiate at The University of Winnipeg.  By the time he completed grade 12 in 1992, he was keenly interested in pursuing a liberal arts education.  That choice, however, was not popular with relatives or friends.  No longer able to count on their sponsorhips, Mzi applied for and received bursaries that allowed him to pay for tuition -but little else.  "I volunteered at the Agape Soup Kitchen so I could eat there, and I lived with friends," he recalls. 

 

Driven to give something back, he volunteered in the community and campus, and worked occasionally as a teaching assistant.  However, as a visa student, Mzi could not take a paying job off-campus.

 

He was in dire straits with just 15 cents in his pocket when serendipity struck in 1995.  His friend Pam Danis, an alumna then working in University Relations, learned of his plight and arranged for Mzi to meet Director of Development Pat Hardy, who was hiring students for the fundraising Phone Centre at the University.

 

Mzi not only got the job, but quickly proved himself so valuable he became the centre's supervisor.  Three years later, he operates a one-man show for much of the year and estimates he raised as much as $80,000 for the University.  Part of that success is his refusal to quite.  "I set a goal for myself every night, and I don't go home until I've reached it."

 

Mzi's genuine appreciation of people's generosity comes across.  "I'm thankful for the opportunity I've had.  My accomplishment wouldn't have been possible without the people who have come into my life and helped me, and it wouldn't have been possible without the generosity of those who gave to the University.  I will always be indebted to these people."

Next year, Mzi plans to enroll in the new joint communications program offered by the University and Red River Community College.