Pride Kaumbi: “I would be glad to bring Tatarstani culture back to my homeland”

Zambian national Pride Kaumbi, despite having arrived to study at the Preparatory School a mere three months ago, has already learned a lot about the country and distinguished himself as part of the student community.

“The Russian educational system is one of the best in the world. In the future, I would like to stay in Russia, because here I can reveal my full potential,” he says about the reasons for his move.

Kaumbi admitted that he is very attracted to Russian and especially Tatar culture. The respectful attitude towards elders is what reminds him of his homeland.

“I would be happy to bring the culture of Tatarstan to Zambia. This is the most valuable thing I could take from here,” the student notes.

Among his achievements is passing a Russian language proficiency test with a 94% score.

Pride says that singing songs in Russian helps with learning: “I prefer country and classical music, and my favorite singer is Jony.”

In addition, Kaumbi performs some of the Russian compositions with a guitar. His repertoire includes the song “We wish you happiness!”, which he sang yesterday at a meeting with the Rector.

Visiting local stores is also very helpful in improving language skills.

“I still have difficulties with pronouncing long words. When a native speaker speaks very quickly, it is still difficult for me to understand the language. It also turned out to be difficult to study during cloudy weather – it is difficult to concentrate,” the student shares his observations. The student was rather surprised by the cold weather and snow.

Kaumbi encourages all international students to communicate in Russian as much as possible.

“Use Russian words in any conversation. Russian should become your second native language,” the student says.

The young man actively participates in university events and wants to try more of local cuisine.

In the future, he plans to obtain a degree in pharmacy.