Keith Anesu Raul Tamwa was honoured to attend the prestigious Pan African Mathematics Olympiad (PAMO) 2024 as part of the Zimbabwe team. Over 27 African countries were represented. Keith is an Upper Six student at USAP Community School pursuing mathematics, physics, chemistry, humanities, computers and capstone.
PAMO is an annual mathematics competition for high school students from African countries. It aims to foster a spirit of excellence and camaraderie among young African mathematicians. This year’s PAMO was held at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa from the 13th to the 20th of August. The competition consists of an exam of six problems that are written over a period of nine hours, split evenly across two days. The goal is to give students questions that seem unstructured with the aim of testing how one can solve problems.
”I got an opportunity to be a part of the team of four that represented Zimbabwe with the generous aid of Old Mutual. Since, I was third in the 2023 edition of the national Old Mutual Mathematics Olympiad, I was able to qualify to be part of the Zimbabwe team. Getting help from my Mathematics teacher Mr Godwin Takayengwa, other Olympiad participants, and the math club was immensely useful in aiding my preparation.
This year’s PAMO was truly an extraordinary opportunity to meet brilliant mathematicians from around the world and interact with other people from different cultures. The problems themselves had hidden meaning, with one sequence problem standing out, teaching me the importance of patience and perseverance as the pattern only later emerged after more than seven iterations. Beyond the competition, we toured a university and visited the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, which supports math and science education. This experience deepened my appreciation for mathematics, and the unique problem-solving approach of Olympiad math is something I hope to carry forward into the future.”
