Stories

Israel Khoza is 32 years old and is a ProFuturo coach in Eswatini, specifically in 8 schools in Siteki, a small semi-urban town in the Lubombo region. 

Israel obtained his bachelor’s degree in Animal Science at the University of Eswatini. However, he has always been fascinated by the world of technology. After teaching mathematics and science at a high school in Siteki on a temporary basis, he decided in 2019 to focus on what he was really passionate about. So he started studying programming classes online, which he still attends today.

In early 2021, Israel had the opportunity to take his passion for technology to another level. Through ProFuturo, he became an educational coach in the Siteki region. He now shares his knowledge and experience in the world of technology with other teachers and students in the schools.

Israel also has a special interest in travel and learning new languages. Because of Eswatini’s proximity to Mozambique, where Portuguese is widely spoken, he decided in 2018 to learn Portuguese through a mobile app. Moreover, after joining the ProFuturo team, he added Spanish to his language collection. Israel sees it clearly: learning languages is an opportunity to broaden your horizons.

When Israel began his work as a coach for 40 other ProFuturo teachers, he thought it would be much easier to teach adults than to teach maths to children as he had done before. However, he realised that teaching technology is still a complicated task, especially for people who are not exposed to and have less experience with ICT. Israel learned to adapt to the situation and every day he works to be a better educational coach. 

Israel’s other difficulties in his role as coach were marked by the arrival of Covid-19. The restrictions of the pandemic and the limited availability of teachers, most of whom were based elsewhere, put Israel to the test. “One day I tried to organise an online training session via Google Meet with three of my schools at the same time. I felt I was isolating myself because of the pandemic. Only two schools were available for the session. The other had Internet connection problems. I did it because you never know when schools might close, and you have to take advantage of the opportunities that arise”.

Although Israel knows that he is not a “technology god” and that he still has many challenges to overcome, he tries to inspire and pass on all that he knows to the other teachers and members of the team. “I dream of a world where everyone uses technology with ease. Now I can see that world become a reality, because with ProFuturo I can help teachers and students from disadvantaged backgrounds to be part of the world I dream of”, concludes Israel.