One More Story: The Alumni Success of Clement
By Annabel Mumba
Annabel Mumba is AYC’s Donor Relations Coordinator in Zambia. She is a Scholarship Fund recipient, high school graduate, and also one of our Success Stories.
Co-written by Pamela O’Brien, African Education Program’s Development Director, who is mentoring Annabel as she pursues a journalism degree.
Clement is the Academic Coordinator at Amos Youth Centre, and he is not only passionate about his job, but he is also a program alumni. Today, we share his story about how he joined the program and is now an invaluable member of the team. Clement is one of the 11 alumni hires at AYC.
Clement joined the organization at an ideal time. His mother, who still owns a restaurant, was facing financial difficulties at the time while raising two children on her own and caring for some of her nieces and nephews.
In 2012, when he was in grade 9, Clement became active at the center and soon applied for the sponsorship. The day that he received his sponsorship was one of the best days of his life. He knew that he would no longer be chased from classes due to his failure to pay the then mandatory school fees in order to attend secondary school.
“Life was not easy for me before Amos Youth Centre started sponsoring me. I remember being chased away from attending classes multiple times because I did not pay school fees. I would watch my friends who had their school fees paid stay back as I gathered my bags to go back home.”
During his time at Amos Youth Centre, Clement most enjoyed the tutoring program in high school, followed by the feeding program. It is because the two work together to develop good students. When a student has a full stomach, they are more focused on studying and getting good grades rather than worrying about where their next meal will come from.
Clement especially appreciated the older students who took the time to tutor and mentor their younger peers while earning their college scholarships. They gave him the extra lessons that he needed to always stay on top of his class.
After graduating from high school, Clement dedicated his gap year, which is a year between high school and college, to teaching Mathematics to his peers. This is where he discovered his passion for teaching Math and decided to enroll at Kwame Nkrumah University in 2017 to pursue a Bachelor of Arts with Education majoring in History and minoring in Mathematics. During his school breaks, he returned to the Center to run the 12th grade Math club and continued to mentor the students in Math.
“The Amos Youth Centre has done amazing things in my life. I cannot begin to imagine what my life would have turned out to be like if I had not joined the program. They made my dreams possible, and now I have a job, all thanks to them. I will forever be grateful to them. Thank you, Amos Youth Centre!”
Clement graduated from university in 2021 and was immediately hired by Amos Youth Centre, initially as an Entrepreneurship Coordinator. He was in charge of teaching students about financial literacy and entrepreneurship. He also led the ninth-grade Entrepreneurship Club.
Clement began working as the Academic Coordinator in 2023, a job he enjoys and is passionate about. He is in charge of class planning and ensuring that each class is successfully completed and that all students are attended to by a teacher. He also finds time to passionately teach Math to the students from time to time.
