My sponsors called it a “successstory” but to me it just felt like keeping my uniform clean and showing up every day with determination.
At 11 years old, in grade 5 atDambwa primary school, I was taken under a sponsorship program by Response Network. My mother earned a living by selling the tradition Zambian drink (munkoyo), but she often couldn’t afford my school fees, leaving me chased from school because of arrears. My guidance teacher noticed my determination and zeal for academics and recommended me for the sponsorship.
With the support, I completed myprimary school at Dambwa primary from grade 1 to 7. In grade 7 I wrote my examination to proceed to secondary school, scoring 745 marks and earning a place at St Mary’s secondary one of the prestigious school in Livingstone.
Despite the school being far from home, the distance never dampened my resolve.
I walked 2km each day to and from school, Joined study group and dedicated late
night personal study sessions, which helped me passed my grade 9 exams in 2018
and moved to grade 10 at the same school. When grade 12 came we wrote the exam
and I passed with 15 points, without containing my happiness I run to my mother
and showed her my results feeling like a dream come true.
My journey did not end with grade12 but it was only the beginning. Response network walked me into tertiary and I enrolled for a diploma in nursing at Livingstone college of Nursing and Midwifery, trading home chores for night shifts and anatomy drills. Each
semester passed like a wind on the sea with assignments, exams and lectures that felt like hours. That steadiness lit a stubborn fire which fueled me to finish, qualify and bring that salary home.
I sat for my final nursing examslast year and spent the weeks after jumping at every phone buzz with anxious thoughts filling my head like” what if I missed a question, what if these three years came to nothing”. When the list came, I scanned it twice before I saw my name, there in black and white qualified Zambian registered nurse. In that
quiet moment between panic and prof, I finally believed with determination
everything is possible.
While I await deployment, I amworking as an assistant administrator at response network, the same organization that once paid my school fees and be where I am now. These I file reports, engage with visitor at the office and help organize community visits. I am learning to speak clearly, listen without rushing and hold space for people whose files once looked like mine. It’s strange and sweet repaying help once given to me by handling the small tasks that keep help moving