Ronald Nyemba was born on 18th November 1991 in Chikambo village in Luyaba area of Zimba District of Southern Province Zambia. “Being born in a polygamous household and raised in a rural area is not easy as taking all children to college or university becomes a challenge as a result of many siblings. I started school in the year 2000 and completed it in 2010 at Namwianga Christian Secondary school. I stayed three years without doing anything due to financial challenges. After completion of my senior secondary school, I engaged myself in sports and other community activities to make myself busy and also joined evangelism with Missionaries from Namwianga who saw potential in me in how I was able to teach and preach the gospel. Kind individuals from the United States of America started sponsoring me from grade 10 to grade 12 and they further sponsored me to study a diploma teaching course at George Benson Christian College of Education.

After completing my diploma course in 2017, I started volunteering as a teacher at Kakopa Primary School. In 2018 I started attending meetings and workshops within Kakopa and I learned a lot about how I can develop myself using locally available resources within our communities. I became more involved in all meetings within Kakopa and Luyaba areas and I got interested in Youth Sports Exchange Program (YSEP) but unfortunately, I was not selected. I engaged myself in maize farming for business and gardening as a way of raising money to pay for my teaching license but I decided to marry since I couldn’t see myself getting deployed soon and now I have one child. I managed to build a one-roomed house in 2020 from the money I made from farming and gardening. In 2021 I was privileged to be selected and participate in the YSEP local exchange program and I was placed in Livingstone. This made me experience life in an urban setting, and increased my understanding of life and how I can adjust/ adapt to different life situations. I learned a lot at Sport in Action about how they implement sports for development activities. This helped me to change my way of thinking and doing things. I made new friends in Livingstone and attended different educational workshops that made me have interest to study more books on development through entrepreneurship skills.

Because of all these opportunities I had I managed to buy 10 goats, and 7 chickens and built a two-roomed house. This has changed my standard of living because I had nothing at all as I was just dependent on my father but through sports, I have learned to work hard and change my life by setting targets/goals. With my stipend from YSEP, I managed to pay for my teaching license and I bought a plot in Luyaba where I want to build a shop and open a grocery business as a way of generating an income for my family. Through networking, I also managed to open a cooperative for Sport In Action.

I believe I am a positive role model who is impacting other youths as they know what kind of a person I was before and after I engaged myself in sports. I am able to help my siblings in school and I don’t have many challenges to support my family financially. This year I am privileged to host a YSEP Volunteer from NOWSPAR whom I am hosting for 6months. This has added value to me and spurred me to buy household goods such as solar power, a TV, and a decoder to be watching sports games and news in the comfort of my home. I really appreciate the coming of the Response Network sports program into our area and turning my life around to where I am. May God continue blessing Response Network to touch many lives positively like how my life turned around because of sports involvement. I will always encourage many youths to attend meetings and workshops because they have a positive influence on personal development. Once again, I am so grateful for what Response Network has done to my life. I will always cherish and treasure RN in my life.”