A MENTOR GIVES WHAT SHE DID NOT RECEIVE

Growing up in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Procedure Mhlange watched her widowed mother struggle to provide for her, her brothers and her aunts and their children. Procedure and the women suffered at the hands of male relatives, but the women were trapped by poverty and a lack of education. Procedure’s mother had no time to answer her childhood questions or listen to her adolescent worries, let alone offer encouragement or comfort.

“This is not how life should be,” she remembers thinking.

A young Procedure at Rose of Charity Girls Club, second from the left

As a teenager, Procedure learned about Global Sojourns Giving Circle through a series of workshops at Rose of Charity, a local orphanage and former GSGC girls club partner. She is the cute girl second from the left. Procedure came away certain that being a dependable listener and a kind guide can change girls’ lives. At age 21, she took a bold step and started her own club.

“It’s a way of giving back, of impacting the world,” she said recently. “You can change someone’s life with information, help them. Every girl needs someone who cares.”

Girls jumped at the chance to join Girls Time club at Lulu Academy. Eventually, Procedure honed membership to 15 girls ages 14-16 and 15 girls ages 17-18. She chose those with both the most potential and the most need. They pack the classroom each time they meet. Clearly, they respect and enjoy Auntie Procedure, a mentor who sees each girl’s gifts, listens to each girl’s concerns, and tries to help them see a future in a culture where male dominance is deeply ingrained, especially among those with little or no education.

Last year in Victoria Fall’s province of Matabeleland North, only 20 percent of girls passed the US equivalent of 10th grade exams and could go on to finish the last two years of secondary school. Those who didn’t pass could retake the exams, but paying a second round of exam fees hamstrings many. Of the 705 girls provincewide who went on to finish secondary school, 83.5 percent passed their final exams, enabling them to apply to colleges or universities.

Procedure’s background, she said, “makes me say to the girls, you need an education so you can stand on your own, so if something happens, you can take care of yourself and your kids.”

Procedure knows the girls and their families. She knows which girls try to study in homes without electricity or running water. She knows who sleeps in a bed and who sleeps on the kitchen floor. She knows who needs money for school fees, and she knows which parents are  unemployed, which are piecing together a meager income, and which are struggling with illnesses. She knows which girls need sanitary products and school books.

Auntie Procedure leading a Girls’ Time club meeting, with a visiting guest

“I understand some of the things the girls are going through,” she said. “I can easily get into their shoes. It’s not a beautiful life.”

Procedure’s strength is her faith, believing in something bigger than herself. Now, at 25, happily married and a trusted voice of experience, she tells the girls, “The worst times are a passing phase. Despite how bad things might seem someone else has it worse. Do not give up, there is light ahead.”

When referring to her Girls Time club members, Procedure summed up her role and her work with ease. “I may not give money to pay school fees, but I can take the time to listen and guide them. That means something. It gives me satisfaction and fulfillment.”