Welcome, Auntie Racheal Musonda

For years, Racheal Musonda has lent a hand. Now she lends an ear to Believe Club members — girls in Livingstone, Zambia whom she mentors as a GSGC Auntie.

“I’ve always loved working with people,” said Auntie Racheal, 29. “With Believe Club, you’re making a difference in someone’s life and get the satisfaction of seeing a change in a girl.”

Born in Central Province, Zambia, Racheal grew up in Botswana, where her father worked. She returned to Zambia to attend the Livingstone Institute of Business and Engineering, then the David Livingstone College of Education, where she earned her teaching credential.

Gloria Mubita, the auntie who heads the club, worked with Racheal at an HIV/AIDS prevention program and, based on her abilities, urged her to become an auntie with Believe Club. With two clubs at schools miles apart, Gloria needed help. It was her forthrightness that won over Racheal. Gloria told her, Global Sojourns Giving Circle is a small nonprofit; the pay isn’t great, and the work can be emotionally difficult. “She was honest with me,” Racheal explained. “I signed on in January.”

With 30 girls, as opposed to an entire class or school, Racheal has gotten to know each girl and her family circumstances. She loves the club’s informal nature, how meeting topics or activities evolve depending on the day’s demands and how the girls, freed of social rules and expectations, can sit on the floor, cry, laugh, and just act like the teenagers they are.

“We take time to listen to them individually, and they take us seriously,” she said, explaining that girls in Zambia often seek solace and advice from trusted aunts or grandmothers rather than their mothers. Having faced the challenges of raising a child alone, Racheal knows the problems many girls face in Southern Africa, where society gives men and boys preferential treatment.

“Knowledge is power, and without information or a sense of having options, our girls are in danger,” she said. “I like working where I can see the result and be part of positive change.”

The now-married mother of a young girl, Racheal may be a voice of experience, but she, too, is learning. “I learn a lot from the girls, like how to speak up for myself,” she said. “Also, how to love yourself more. Insecurities? We all have them. We’re learning to see ourselves in a better light.”