Sisonke Means Together

On a warm afternoon in Victoria Falls, a circle of boys leans in as a mentor asks, “What are you carrying this week?” In another space, a group of girls gather to talk about futures that stretch past early marriage into work and study. This is Sisonke in motion—togetherness not as a slogan, but a practice. Sisonke means together, “It means we are together. Together in truth. Together in healing. Together. Together in building a future where no child grows up.” Mentor Prosper Siphambili describes.

For Mentor Talent Muyambo, who leads the girls’ club, it means “together in breaking the cycle of poverty through educating girls”. From the boys’ side, Mentor Nyika Muyambo is blunt about what they are pushing back against. “The challenge… especially [for] the boys is indulging in risky behaviors at an early age for example drug abuse, alcohol abuse and also early sexual activity.” So the club “came in to support them through holding their hand” so they can stay in school and reach their potential.

Prosper describes how Sisonke makes that support feel real: “We created safe spaces, small, intimate groups of about 15, where young people could speak freely. We challenge harmful mindsets. We restore dignity. It’s where the cycle begins to break. Not through charity, but through empowerment.”

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  Sisonke girl reading to the group

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  Sisonke youth and girl smiling taking part

What Change Looks Like

Sisonke Boys began in 2017 with 15 boys. Today, the program runs junior and senior groups with roughly 32 to 40 boys each year, with alumni staying connected—and a waiting list that speaks to value and demand for these sorts of programmes in their community.

Role models matter. Nyika points to alumn club member Michael, the first boy from the community to pass his O-levels [secondary school], continue to A-levels [high school], and enroll at university. “He will be graduating this year, 2025,” Nyika says. Michael’s example has reset expectations: younger boys now see a path forward, and the majority of recent seniors club members are in college or on on-the-job training.

In the girls’ club, Talent names a different pressure: “Before [we began] we were seeing a high rate of teenage pregnancy and a lot of girls getting married early. As Sisonke Girls Club we try by all means to educate the girls about the importance of education to break the cycle of poverty.” She points to Ayanda’s journey as a living example: joining in her first year of secondary school [Form 1], passing O-levels “against all odds,” and then going on to completing a culinary course, and now “a class one chef now on attachment [internship] in one of the local lodges.” This is unusual for a girl in the community to go so far in their education so she stands as a role model for other girls in the club and the wider community she is from.

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  Sisonke Girls Mentor Talent facilitating a session

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  Sisonke girls and boys taking part in discussions

Norms That Shift, At Home And In Clubs

A core part of Sisonke is unlearning scripts about gender that hurt everyone. “Boys have been made to believe that they are better than girls [so] we have been able to bring this into balance that there is nothing like gender roles. Even as a boy, you can cook, you can still clean the house,” says Nyika. Parents have noticed the change at home as boys start to take on more responsibility and this has resulted in more boys being sent to the club.

That learning runs both ways. “One of the biggest misconceptions [was] educating a girl child is just a waste of time,” Talent says. The club pushes back, teaching that “a girl child and a boy child are all equally the same; they can actually do the same things.”

Prosper adds what he hears underneath the bravado: “One of the most painful misconceptions about youth is that they don’t care. But these young people are not broken. They are bruised carry

ing the weight of poverty. We walk with them, sit in circles and talk about pain and possibility and see that the shift is happening.”

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  Sisonke boys cooking including Nqobile

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  Sisonke boys club together

Storytelling, Exposure And The Long Game

All three mentors keep returning to stories. “Storytelling plays a fundamental role in mentorship,” says Nyika. “Human beings are motivated by inspiration and role modeling.” Talent calls it “a way of role modeling” that lets girls “relate” to lived testimony. Prosper calls it “pivotal,” the bridge that turns “passive listeners into active participants” and reminds every young person, “Your voice matters.”

Exposure expands what is imaginable. “We want to take our kids to exposure trips see universities colleges and companies. [GSGC] has been so supportive of this,” says Nyika. Talent echoes that support has enabled “career trips, career guidance [and] guest speakers,” which is critical for youth who have not had those chances.

And the mentors hold themselves to the same standard they teach. Prosper went back to school so the boys could “look up to me, not just in words, but in action. Today I hold a bachelor’s degree not as a trophy, but as a testimony.” Nyika names how the work reshaped him at home: “I am not a boss in a marriage. I listen and I respect my wife’s decisions. I stopped putting on a mask of masculinity.” he goes onto say “I understand for you to build healthier communities, you also need women to work along with men. And rather than men being dominant in a community that leads to cycles of poverty. So it has transformed me personally. Me and my wife, we work as partners.”

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  Sisonke Boys in club session

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  Sisonke Mentors Nyika, talent, prosper and junior mentor

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  Group of Sisonke boys

Where Sisonke Is Headed

The clubs are growing, and the need is clear. “We want to have more mentors being trained as a lot of youth are coming for this mentorship opportunity,” says Talent. The vision is simple and ambitious at once: reach more youth, deepen the circles, and keep turning togetherness into futures that look different from the past.

If you believe in that work, you can help. Share this story. Follow the clubs’ progress. Support exposure trips, alumni mentoring, and training new mentors. Sisonke means together. In these clubs, togetherness looks like boys and girls learning side by side. Mentors model responsibility and respect. Families see change at home. With each passed exam and first job, the cycle bends. Add your support so the next circle of youth can enter, learn, and lead. That is how togetherness becomes a future.