GSGC fruit appears when least expected

The 230-mile journey earlier this month from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe to Lusaka, Zambia, where I was to catch a plane to see the Giving Circle clubs in Mfuwe, took seven hours.

It was hot, and tiring. But the fruits of the Giving Circle’s work appeared even before I reached Mfuwe, in Zambia’s Eastern Province.

At a pit stop, I hopped off the bus only to a see a familiar face in the crowd. There was Elenah, an alumna of Believe Club.

Elenah, an alumna of Believe Club

About a year ago, her whole village turned out to congratulate her for being the first girl to complete high school. Her marks weren’t good enough to move her to a higher level then, but completing school, especially without getting pregnant, was something worth celebrating! She’d stuck with school and tried hard, and the village recognized her effort.

I called her name. We had a quick catch-up, and what I heard warmed my heart. Elenah was working for a mobile communications company to earn money for college. She had retaken her exams and passed, and now was on her way to higher education.

When I got off the bus another time, I was across the street from a bus station. Who was standing there but Penelope, a Project Luangwa alumna.

That’s two chance encounters, I said to myself. This is a little strange. I had to jump off at exactly that moment, just there, to see her. It was nice to see she’s doing well. She was on her way to university. Our girls are scaling up.

Then I remembered another encounter. Five days earlier, I walked through Livingstone, Zambia, just across the Zambezi River from Vic Falls, with Auntie Gloria from Believe Club on our way to Giving Circle meeting at the bank. And there was Elizabeth walking down the street. She was wearing a nursing uniform.

My heart was filled with such joy when I remembered her persistence and determination! She wasn’t at first selected to be part of the club, but she had a conviction that if she joined, her life would change for the better. She joined, and so it did!

It’s stories like these that make my heart sing. They give me a reason to believe there’s hope for Africa, and all we have to do is keep doing one good deed at a time.

Fast forward to Mfuwe. Once there, I had a tour of Project Luangwa’s expansion where greater production of reusable sanitary pads will take place. Lack of sanitary products keeps girls out of school a few days each month, and their education suffers. We are making progress to help girls, boys, educators and parents all understand the importance of girls staying in school all month long.

I saw the safe place the club built to give girls the physical and psychological protection they need for the emotionally grueling conversations they have with the Aunties. Without a parent at home, they confide the difficulties they’ve faced and share their concerns with the Aunties. A safe space is crucial to healing. I was also overjoyed to hear about two club alumna’s who have also started clubs in their villages and one girl who will be assisting Auntie Fwilane with the younger girls! The ripple effect!

I visited Yosefe Girls Club and met Pam, an artist whose art, in part, helps support school fees for Yosefe girls. I sat in on a session Auntie Kalinda held on stereotypes.

“Can boys be cooks?” asked Auntie Kalinda.

“Yes they can,” answered a girl. “The man who was killed by a crocodile a week earlier had been a cook for one of the local lodges.”

Maybe her example wasn’t the best, maybe it was just my overactive imagination, but I thought it was quite humorous — and sad — that the male chef had became a meal!

Yosefe girls meet on the school grounds. The headmaster spoke highly of Kalinda’s work. He said the girls who come from her club are more confident when they meet people — they look people in the eye, their voices are strong, and they speak in English. One of Kalinda’s goals is English proficiency.

I heard about great strides our girls are making. One illustrated perfectly why I do this work.

When I began the journey to Mfuwe, I picked up my bus ticket from Auntie Gloria in Livingstone. She’d been up early that morning to visit her father in hospital. Later that day, March 10, he took a turn for the worse and died.

Gloria’s Believe Club girls and fellow Aunties stepped forward. The women, who forged friendships through the Giving Circle, provided practical and emotional support. The girls showed up because Gloria has cared for them, and now, they understood, it was their time to support her. When the brother of one of the girls was murdered a year ago, the girls went to her house to support her, too. Giving back to community is a Giving Circle tenant.

The love Gloria has shown came full circle. It wasn’t about money because the girls don’t have money. It was about the girls being there for her in her time of need. It shows community is still important. The girls are beginning to see they can be the change in the community.

Life is a circle, everything keeps coming back. It doesn’t matter how small an impact you have, it’s an impact! My experience the past two weeks shows me what we do make a difference.

If these girls continue in this direction, we’re looking at a different future for their communities.

— Smokey Dube