A journey alongside.
Global Sojourns Giving Circle began with a deep belief that lasting change is born through listening, relationship, and shared humanity.
Our Origin Story
Long before founding GSGC, Priscilla Plummer spent more than a decade traveling through the bush, towns, and cities of developing nations, primarily across Africa. She listened more than she spoke. She sat beside women on the steps of mud homes, heard stories of resilience and hardship, and witnessed both the beauty and complexity of daily life in communities too often misunderstood by the Western world.
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These experiences shaped not only her worldview, but also her expertise. Priscilla earned a master’s degree in International Development with a focus on women’s issues, conducting published research in Mozambique centered on women’s lived experiences and perspectives. Her background in business and publishing further strengthened her ability to build bridges between cultures, ideas, and people.
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What she came to understand was that meaningful development cannot be imposed from the outside. Too often, traditional aid efforts have brought large amounts of funding into communities for a short period of time, only to disappear when priorities shift or funding ends. While often well intentioned, these models frequently leave little behind that is sustainable or truly rooted in local realities.
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Priscilla believed there had to be another way.
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She founded Global Sojourns, a travel company designed not only to offer transformative adventures, but also to create opportunities for travelers to deepen their understanding of the people and places they visited. Travelers returned home changed by what they experienced. They formed genuine relationships. They began asking thoughtful questions about inequality, education, and opportunity. Most importantly, they asked how they could help.
In 2007, those travelers, alongside Priscilla’s years of development experience and trusted local relationships, helped give birth to Global Sojourns Giving Circle.
From the beginning, GSGC was built differently. Rather than arriving with predetermined solutions, the organization committed to listening first. Local leaders, mentors, educators, and communities would guide the work because they best understood the challenges, cultural contexts, and possibilities within their own communities. GSGC’s role would be to support, invest in, and walk alongside them over the long term.
That philosophy continues to shape every part of the organization today.
What began with a focus on girls’ education and empowerment has evolved into locally led mentorship initiatives that support both girls and boys across Zimbabwe and Zambia. Through mentorship clubs, scholarship opportunities, alumni support, and Youth Mentorship Centers, young people are building confidence, leadership skills, resilience, and access to greater opportunity.
At the heart of the work is a simple but powerful belief: lasting change happens when communities lead themselves.
Mentorship became central to the model because of Priscilla’s own experience with mentors who profoundly shaped her life. She understood that education alone is not enough. Young people also need encouragement, guidance, emotional support, and trusted adults who believe in their potential. Local mentors provide this every day, helping youth navigate complex realities while fostering dignity, agency, and hope for the future.
The success of GSGC is rooted in this long term commitment to relationship based, community led development. The programs are not imposed from the outside. They are built collaboratively, adapted locally, and sustained by the people closest to the work. Over time, the model has proven that when communities are trusted, supported, and empowered to lead, meaningful and lasting transformation is possible.
None of this would exist without the generosity of donors who chose not simply to give, but to stay connected. GSGC was born because travelers saw humanity reflected in the people they met and wanted to be part of something deeper than charity. They wanted to invest in possibility, dignity, and shared futures.
Today, that invitation remains.
The work continues because communities continue to lead, mentors continue to show up for young people, and supporters continue to believe that sustainable change begins with listening, partnership, and trust.
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Join the CIRCLE!