Work together for the good of all
The first visit to Simonga Health Post in 2022, before the later construction of the first teen corner.
Tonga Teen Corners (TTC) builds youth-friendly spaces in rural medical clinics that empower adolescents and young adults to take charge of their mental and physical health and lead vibrant, positive lives.
We pursue this mission in alignment and alliance with the vision for Zambian national health, the district health authorities of the Southern Province of Zambia, and the local NGO On Call Africa,
As those under 30 constitute 80% of the total population of Zambia, the Zambian authorities have chosen to focus prevention efforts on this sector of the population, privileging the wellbeing and sexual health of young Zambians and supporting the quality and continuity of their education.
The work of TTC aligns with this vision and the Zambian national health plan by creating spaces that facilitate confidential exchanges between young people and peer mentors who have been trained to serve as role models and advisors.
The origin story and what has happened since
The story of Tonga Teen Corners began in 2022 in the Southern Province of Zambia, following a month-long reconnaissance visit by Celeste Schenck, a retired university president, Dr. Dominique Delor, a retired doctor and French public health administrator, and pharmacist Anne Thomasset, veteran of many humanitarian missions in Africa. Invited by their dear friends Charles and Emma Stewart in Livingstone, they came to know the nurses, youth and community leaders of Simonga village close by first and, together with the Livingstone District Health Office and local NGO On Call Africa, imagined a project that would link public health and education in a very concrete way: by building dedicated youth-friendly spaces attached to rural clinics, staffed by trained peer ambassadors.
Today, Tonga Teen Corners remains what it set out to be: a tiny project in the grand scheme of things, yet a mighty one in the lives of Tonga adolescents who walk through these spaces, find role models, stay in school longer, and begin to imagine futures that once felt out of reach. Its history is still being written, one youth-friendly room, one peer ambassador, one aspiring student at a time.
A small but mighty endeavor
2022–2023
Legal Recognition in France
and The First Center Built
In France, the three founders created Tonga Teen Corners as a non-profit association under the law of 1901, with a clear, modest commitment: to help build and equip at least one adolescent-friendly space each year in a rural medical center in Southern Zambia. In 2023, the French government recognized Tonga Teen Corners as an association d’utilité générale, allowing it to deliver tax receipts to French donors who support this humanitarian work. From the start, the association has been entirely volunteer-run; every euro and dollar raised has been directed to building expenses and the training of peer ambassadors, while travel and time on the ground are contributed by the volunteer founders. The first youth-friendly space was built in the village of Simonga, just outside Livingstone, and became the very first center in Southern Province constructed to national standards for adolescent care. The new room, with its separate entrance, confidential setting and warm colors, helped lift Simonga from the status of a medical post to that of a medical center, triggering additional government staffing and transforming the site into a model of youth engagement and health. From this hub, a growing group of teen ambassadors began offering after-school activities, sports, theater, music and open conversations about “living a positive life,” and traveling to even more rural villages to lead outreach campaigns on early pregnancy, school leaving, sexually transmitted diseases and addiction.
2023–2024
Support Extended to Other
Sites Across the District
Encouraged by the response in Simonga, Tonga Teen Corners extended its support, through On Call Africa, to a second youth corner in Chidi in the Zimba district, where one valiant male nurse served a catchment area of roughly 11,000 people, and then to a third, almost unimaginably remote clinic in Mapatizya. By 2025, the association’s annual fundraising was helping to underwrite not only Simonga and the two in Zimba, but also youth-friendly spaces in new renovation projects at Botoka and Mubuyu in the Choma district, in close alignment with the Ministry of Health’s priorities for rural adolescent health. Across these centers, dozens of student peer advisors are now in place or in training, including twenty-seven teen ambassadors in Simonga, twenty-four in Chidi and twenty at Mapatizya, each of them reaching outward to surrounding villages with knowledge, empathy and by example.
2024–2025
Expanding Financial Support
to Educational Scholarships
As the first cohorts of student leaders matured, new needs emerged. Many of the young people who had given two years of service in the youth corners, gaining leadership experience and earning strong academic records, began to qualify for government-funded scholarships to university and professional training. The founders quickly saw that, while tuition might be half covered by the state, most families could not meet the remaining costs of lodging, food, books, transport and fees. Consequently, in 2024–2025, Tonga Teen Corners amended its statutes to allow for occasional support (budget permitting) of special training and higher education for a small number of outstanding student leaders each year. Its first sponsored student, Boyd Nyundu, former president of the Simonga youth center, is now pursuing a business degree in Lusaka, and discussions are underway with Livingstone Teaching Hospital to develop a program for student nurses whose training will include adolescent-friendly, community-based care.
2025–2026
We are currently "writing" this part of our history...
Three Centers Completed,
Two More to Come
Our call to action is
tuyeyele antomwe
This is our motto: tuyeyele antomwe, or “let us put our knowledge together” and “let us share our knowledge and work together for the good of all.” It expresses what happens in our youth corners when young people, nurses and peer mentors bring their questions, experience and learning into one shared space, and when science, medicine, the law and reason become allies in challenging ideas that keep girls out of school and harmful behaviors in place.
The motto was created by the Simonga peer ambassadors themselves as they prepared to open the very first teen corner there in August 2023, our first center in Southern Province. In the days before the painting ceremony, student artist Kelvin designed the center’s logo of helping hands forming a heart with a sun “beaming down hope and healing light,” and the group chose tuyeyele antomwe to be inscribed alongside their values on the wall. We believe that their motto has become our call to action and one that is deeply embedded in how we think and act in everything we do in Zambia.
A small team with big ambitions
Meet the small circle behind Tonga Teen Corners: the three of us who started this work in rural Zambia and return each year to listen, learn and build alongside our partners and our communications specialist, who helps us share this work and these stories with friends and family near and far.
Celeste Schenck
President
"Here is where we will add a quote from the person about what this work means to them and why they feel dedicated to the TTC mission."
Celeste Schenck is president emerita of The American University of Paris, where she previously served as provost, dean, and professor of comparative literature. An expert in global higher education, she founded the American International Consortium of Academic Libraries (AMICAL), a consortium of American universities across Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa; and served as president of the Association of American International Colleges and Universities (AAICU), a presidents’ organization spanning American-style universities across the world. Schenck is a CTI- (Coaches Training Institute) and ORSC- (Organization Relationship Systems Coaching) trained coach interested in supporting university presidents as they labor in the fields of higher education. She is passionate about the power of education to transform students’ lives, as well as those of the communities and countries in which they live and work, and to sustain and support democracy worldwide.
Dominique Delor
Treasurer
"Here is where we will add a quote from the person about what this work means to them and why they feel dedicated to the TTC mission."
Dr. Dominique Delor is a medical doctor and longtime director of public health within the French national health system, where he oversaw the entire public health structure of three French departments. He also has experience managing work-related health issues in both individual and collective situations, from public administration to large corporations. In recent years, he got a university degree in international tropical medicine to support his work in Africa. In retirement, he joins humanitarian missions to Madagascar and Zambia, and serves on the board of a French national cancer association. He is particularly interested in the documented health outcomes of humanitarian interventions, which he redesigns in adequacy with the results. In Zambia, Dr Delor maintains ties with the Livingstone Hospital and its staff, in addition to the District Health Office.
Anne Thomasset
Vice President
"Here is where we will add a quote from the person about what this work means to them and why they feel dedicated to the TTC mission."
Anne Thomasset spent a large part of her childhood and adolescence in Africa, having lived in Burkina Faso, Sénégal, Côte d’ivoire, Ethiopie, Djibouti, Cameroun, and Madagascar with her family. She obtained a doctorate from the Pharmacy Faculty in Strasbourg, where she wrote her thesis on bacteriology and received a diploma in parasitology. Her professional career took her to Syria and Turkey. In 1991, she joined the French national public health system, where she was responsible for the evaluation of drugs, notably for their impact on public health. At the national level, working for the Highest Health Authority, she focused on gaining approval for new cancer medications based on studies furnished by pharmaceutical laboratories. She has accomplished 20 humanitarian missions to Madagascar and continues to travel regularly to Africa.
Kilian Ordelheide
Communications
"It's the scale of the work that drew me to TTC. Too often, one's support, financial or otherwise, goes unnoticed in big organizations. Here, every bit of support is felt. If my work helps to bring others into that mission, then it is work I am proud to do."
Kilian Ordelheide has always been interested in what helps people feel safe enough to think clearly, make good decisions, and take charge of their lives and work. He first explored that question through volunteering at local youth centers and hospice facilities, where he saw up close how much care, trust, and stability matter. An apprenticeship with Securitas later showed him the practical side of protecting people and organizations. That same thread led him into a decade-long career in higher education communications, where he came to see clear, thoughtful communication as another way of safeguarding people and communities. Over the years, he helped leaders communicate in ways that built trust and supported communities through challenging moments. Now based in Paris, he is proud to support Tonga Teen Corners by shaping clear messaging and turning its mission-driven work in Zambia into stories that connect with partners and encourage support.
The Mission That Drives Every Action
Empower adolescents and young adults to take charge of their mental and physical health and lead vibrant, positive lives.
Our local partners that make it all possible
On Call Africa
To root our work in the fabric of Zambia’s health system, we are privileged to partner with On Call Africa, a Zambian and UK-registered charity that has spent more than a decade improving access to quality healthcare in some of the most remote parts of rural Zambia. Their focus is not on one-off projects, but on strengthening rural health systems so that communities can rely on consistent, dignified care close to home. On Call Africa’s vision is simple yet far-reaching: to help create a world in which rural communities have access to quality healthcare as close to home as possible. Their mission speaks directly to the communities we work alongside by improving health outcomes for marginalized rural communities in Zambia, by improving access to quality care. They are explicit about the values that guide this work, naming themselves as inclusive, collaborative, honest, and ambitious, and they are known among partners for living those values in day-to-day decisions as well as in strategy documents. In practice, this means working on several fronts at once. On Call Africa supports rural health facilities to improve both access to and the quality of care; strengthens community health programs that link clinics with households; and uses evidence from this work to influence policy and practice at the national level. They do this in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health, working at the national, provincial, district, and facility levels to co-produce solutions that respond to locally identified needs in Southern Province and other hard-to-reach areas. Their teams train and equip community health workers and community-based volunteers, pilot new national training packages, and work with partners such as D-tree to develop digital tools that help frontline workers make better decisions, follow up on patients, and strengthen data flows between communities and clinics. Our collaboration sits inside this wider effort. By anchoring our youth-focused work within On Call Africa’s long-term partnerships with rural health centers, community health workers, and the Ministry of Health, we are contributing to a shared project: building a rural health system in which every young person, no matter how remote their village, can find accurate information, respectful care, and the chance to live a healthier, more hopeful life. Learn more about their work at https://oncallafrica.org/.
District Health Office
As a public-sector anchor for our work, Tonga Teen Corners collaborates closely with the Livingstone District Health Office, the Ministry of Health’s leadership team for primary health services in Livingstone District, Southern Province. As the government office responsible for overseeing local health facilities and programs, the District Health Office coordinates everything from routine child vaccination campaigns to large-scale outreach activities and partnerships with community organisations. Working with the District Health Office allows us to align our youth-friendly spaces with national priorities in adolescent health, to integrate our teen ambassadors into existing health promotion efforts, and to make sure that the safe, vibrant corners we help create are fully embedded in the district health system for the long term.
Quiet Waters
Quiet Waters, a locally owned transport company based in Simonga just outside Livingstone, has been part of the Tonga Teen Corners story from the very beginning. Registered as Quiet Waters Property Limited, the company imports and operates trucks and heavy equipment into Livingstone and Southern Province, anchoring a busy logistics business in the very communities where we work. At the heart of Quiet Waters are Charles, the owner, and Emma, whose quiet, steady commitment to service in the Livingstone area first opened our eyes to the needs and potential of young people in Simonga and surrounding villages. Through their generosity, practical problem solving and constant readiness to help, they have supported schools, clinics and community initiatives long before Tonga Teen Corners existed and have walked alongside us as close friends and champions ever since. Our partnership with Quiet Waters roots this “tiny but mighty” project in the daily life of the district, linking youth-friendly spaces to a local business that believes, as we do, that investing in adolescents today strengthens the whole community tomorrow.
Livingstone Hospital
Livingstone Teaching Hospital, the main referral hospital for Southern Province and a key training site for health professionals in Zambia, is a natural future partner for Tonga Teen Corners. As a busy tertiary facility serving both urban and rural communities around Livingstone, it plays a central role in caring for the very adolescents and families we hope to reach earlier through youth corners in health posts and rural clinics. While we do not yet have a formal partnership in place, we expect to begin discussions soon on supporting student nurses whose training includes adolescent-friendly and community-based care. Helping to fund and accompany these young nurses in their studies would allow us to link the safe, welcoming spaces we are building at the community level with a new generation of health workers who understand, from the start, how vital it is to listen to young people and to meet them with respect, accurate information and hope.
Honorary Consulate of France in Livingstone
The Honorary Consulate of France in Livingstone provides a local consular point of contact in Southern Province for French nationals and visitors, and serves as a practical link to French consular services in the country. The office is led by Mr. Aly El Sahili, Honorary Consul of France in Livingstone, with a regular presence in Lusaka as well. Honorary consulates are not embassies, and their role is intentionally focused. In Livingstone, the Honorary Consul is authorized to handle specific administrative formalities and to issue certain documents, including certificates of life and residence, transport and customs certificates, and certification of copies as true to the original. For Tonga Teen Corners, which returns to Livingstone each year to visit rural sites and meet with public and NGO partners, the presence of an official French consular point of contact in the region matters. It reflects a small but meaningful strengthening of local institutional ties, and it helps situate our work as a French association operating responsibly and transparently alongside Zambian institutions.