From Student to Staff: The Alumni Who Came Home
By Annabel Mumba
Annabel Mumba is AYC’s Donor Relations Coordinator. She is a Scholarship Fund recipient, and a graduate of Mulungushi University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications (Journalism), and also one of our Success Stories.
Co-written by Pamela O’Brien, African Education Program’s Development Director, who is mentoring Annabel.
Clement, Violet, Christine and Kalaluka (l-r)
What does it look like when an investment pays off? Not in numbers, but in people, in young men and women who walked through the doors of Amos Youth Centre (AYC) full of potential. At AYC, the return on investment is measured in more than percentages; it’s the lives touched and transformed. Some of those lives have found their way back to where it all began. For Clement, Violet, Christine and Kalaluka, graduation wasn’t an ending; it was a beginning.
At our Learning & Leadership Centre in Kafue, Zambia, this is not a coincidence. It is a cycle. A cycle of investment and growth. Today, four of AYC's staff members are living proof of that cycle, alumni who were once students, scholars, and club members, who now lead programs, manage teams, and mentor the next generation of young people walking the same path they once walked.
These are their stories.
“AYC gave me confidence, and I am giving back by giving others the confidence to believe in themselves and hope for a better future.”
Violet Mukumbwa — Entrepreneurship Manager
Violet was eleven years old when she first walked through the doors of AYC’s Learning & Leadership Centre in 2014. She had heard her friends talk about the free tutoring sessions at the centre, and curiosity brought her in. But what she found was far more than academic support.
Through AYC’s clubs, mentorship, and programs, Violet found something she had not expected to find – herself.
Violet enjoys working with the Women’s Business Training graduates.
"AYC welcomed me with open arms and showed me love and a place to call home," she shared. "The clubs taught me about my body, about confidence, about how to discover my potential, and most importantly, to believe in myself and to dream big."
Her most treasured memory from those early years was attending her first-ever Annual Life Skills & Leadership Camp in 2015. "It helped me make friends, feel a sense of belonging, and increase my self-esteem."
AYC’s Co-Founder and Director of Programs, Lumuno Mweemba, who led many of the clubs Violet attended at that time, became a guiding voice, one whose advice helped shape the young woman Violet was becoming.
In 2020, still in Grade 12, Violet received an opportunity that would change the course of her life. She was informed about an opportunity to work at the Centre and invited to attend the Street Business School Train-the-Trainer workshop in Uganda, where she was trained in their customised entrepreneurial curriculum. After her training, she started as an Entrepreneurship Assistant to help launch the Women’s Business Training, teaching financial literacy to mothers and guardians of youth attending AYC.
The transition from student to staff was not without its nerves. "It was nerve-wracking. I didn't know how to behave or how to carry myself." She had come straight from high school, and some of her classmates were still at the centre as students. Balancing those friendships while stepping into a staff role required a significant mindset shift. But the greatest challenge was yet to come.
"One of my biggest challenges has been walking into a room full of women old enough to be my mother and being expected to lead them," Violet said. "When I first started, I constantly questioned whether they would take me seriously. But over time, I realised that what mattered most was showing up consistently, being prepared, and genuinely caring about their growth. The women I train became some of my greatest encouragers, pouring into me just as much as I poured into them."
Five years in, Violet's vision for her legacy is as bold as her journey. "I want to leave AYC with women who are truly financially independent, not just women who attended a training. I want to grow the Entrepreneurship & Financial Literacy Program so it reaches far beyond Kafue, into communities that don't yet have access to this kind of support."
Violet is now in her final year at the University of Zambia, studying for a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration while continuing to work for AYC full-time.
“AYC gave me hope, and I am giving back by raising leaders.”
Christine Mulenga — Extracurricular Programs Manager
Christine joined AYC in 2009, in Grade 9, introduced by a neighbour. She came through the doors looking for financial help with her school fees and found far more than she had bargained for. The Debate Club and Drama Club became her home, spaces where a quiet, reserved young girl began to find her voice.
"AYC helped me come out of myself and unlock the leadership potential in me," Christine shared. "They made me a leader."
Christine leads many clubs and activities at AYC.
Mrs. Agnes Banda, a staff member at that time, was the person who made the biggest impression on Christine during those years. "She was always there for me. She shaped me into the woman I am here today. I could count on her."
Christine never imagined she would one day work at AYC. Her dream had been journalism. But in 2022, an opportunity arose, and she said yes. Starting as a Resource Coordinator, she researched funding opportunities and potential partnerships for the organisation, before growing into her current role as Extracurricular Programs Manager.
The transition brought its own fears. "I was afraid of failure, of not being up to the task.” Childhood trauma and anxiety were battles she was quietly fighting alongside her new responsibilities. But at AYC, she found the support she needed. "I have a mentor at AYC who is helping me."
What she discovered along the way surprised her. "Working at AYC has taught me to see my potential, that I am capable of achieving things I never thought I would achieve. The sky is not the limit."
Today, Christine shows up for the students she serves with the full weight of her own experience behind her. "When I see them, I see myself in them. What they are experiencing is what I experienced myself. I know that they have the potential to transform their lives, their community, and their country."
Her closing sentence says it all: "I always see myself in all the students I mentor. Looking at how I have overcome, there is hope that they, too, will overcome."
“AYC gave me life, and I am giving back by giving life.”
Clement Mwanza — Academics and Scholarships Manager
Clement arrived at AYC in 2011, introduced by a friend. He was struggling in his English classes and heard that AYC offered tutoring. He came for the academics, and stayed for everything else. The Music Club, in particular, captured his heart. "I love music," he said simply.
Life before AYC was defined by one central challenge: school fees. In Zambia, before President Hakainde Hichilema's administration introduced the free education policy in January 2022 that abolished tuition and examination fees in all government schools, school fees were mandatory, creating a significant barrier for families who could not afford them. For many young people, this meant that education was simply out of reach.
Clement remembers sitting in these same seats as a student.
Raised by a single mother, Clement's mother was the only person who could help, and it was not always enough. AYC ran a Scholarship Program to cover these fees and ensure that financial hardship was never a reason for a child to miss out on an education. That sponsorship became a lifeline.
His most memorable moment as a student was marching in AYC's annual Youth Day parade. "It was a moment to show the people and the community where I was coming from."
Marie-Odile Savarit, fondly known as Momma Mario, who is a long-time supporter of AYC, became his greatest encourager. "She was always there to give me encouraging words that I still carry up to now."
AYC built something in Clement that he had not anticipated. "I was very confident to talk to crowds through the clubs and mentorship talks. I did not think that I could be a teacher."
In 2022, Clement expressed interest in working at AYC. He was trained to teach entrepreneurship to women and was also sent to Uganda for certification by Street Business School. He returned as a certified business coach and began facilitating the Women's Business Training and also training secondary students in the same program that has since transformed hundreds of women in Kafue. He is now AYC's Academics and Scholarship Manager.
The adjustment from student to staff was real. "I was scared because I was still young, and leading my peers was scary for me at first." But that adjustment, he says, made him grow. "I had to differentiate being a student and being a staff member. That adjustment made me grow in my career."
What drives Clement now is a deep sense of reciprocity. "I learnt to be there for others because someone was there for me." His advice to current students is straightforward: "Believe in yourself. Concentrate at school. Be humble. Learn from others, and from your own mistakes."
The legacy he hopes to leave is equally clear. "I want to be remembered as someone who believed in the students, made their dreams come true, and made a change in their education. Someone who was there for the students at all times."
“AYC gave me hope, and I am giving back through accountability.”
Kalaluka Lindunda — Monitoring & Evaluation Manager
Kalaluka's story begins with two years of silence. After his father lost his job, he and his younger brother were forced out of school; there was simply no money. When they finally returned, both brothers began selling vegetables to raise money for school fees. Hope was not something Kalaluka had much of.
"I had zero hope for my future," he said. "I used to ask myself why I needed to finish school if I was not going to go to college or university."
Kalaluka spends time mentoring younger students.
Then, in Grade 10 in 2016, a former staff member visited his class and introduced him to AYC. He joined the Boys Talk Club, a space where young men could speak openly about what they were going through. The Nutrition Program gave him something equally important: a meal. "The daily meal at the centre was very meaningful for me. Thanks to AYC, I never studied on an empty stomach."
His first sponsorship headshot remains his fondest memory. "I got my first headshot and received a sponsor for the first time." That moment of being seen, chosen, and supported changed everything.
Lumuno Mweemba, AYC's Co-Founder and Programs Director, became Kalaluka's most significant mentor. "The guidance and advice were different and unique. At AYC, it is not uncommon to have a mentor, it shapes who we are."
After completing university with a Bachelor's degree in Cyber Security from Zambia University College of Technology, Kalaluka applied for an internship in AYC's Monitoring & Evaluation Department. He was accepted in 2023. Within months, he was appointed Project Manager for the Kids to Care Project, then promoted to Monitoring & Evaluation Coordinator, and is now the Monitoring & Evaluation Manager.
"I have come to have a different view on certain things," he reflected. "The more responsibilities I am given, the more I tend to understand the organisation and how I can contribute to it."
He mentors three students closely, young people who remind him of himself. He understands how to show up for these students as their mentor because he understands that he was once in their situation.
The legacy Kalaluka is building is structural as much as it is personal. "I want to leave a legacy of a solid M&E system that can be operated without problems. But I am also ready to be a role model and mentor to the young ones."
The Cycle Continues
These four alumni have had unique, beautiful journeys with an organisation that refused to give up on any of them.
Violet found confidence when she had none, Christine found her voice in a debate club, Clement found faith in himself when the odds were against him and Kalaluka found hope when hope had run out.
Today, each one of them shows up every single day, not just as staff members, but as living proof of what AYC makes possible. They sit across from students who are struggling with the same things they once struggled with, and they say, without words: I was here. I made it. So can you.
Beyond their roles, they have become quiet but powerful sources of inspiration. To the children and youth who walk through AYC’s doors today, they represent what is possible. They show that confidence can be built, voices can be strengthened, and circumstances do not define destiny.