Nearly a year after donors chose Loveangel Sibanda’s poetry recitation as the top vote-getter in our Creative Expression Contest, we checked in with the Zimbabwean teen to see whether life has changed. Indeed, it’s been a good year!

The $100 educational package she won went to pay school fees and buy school supplies. She’s gained a higher profile among students, and she is sharing her poetry in the community. 

And there’s more. See what your votes and financial support helped make happen. 

2022 Creative Expressions Contest

Get ready: Voting starts June 25 for the fourth annual Creative Expressions Contest! 

This event is one of the most popular among GSGC-sponsored girls and boys clubs in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Madagascar — and one of the most important money-raising events for the coming year! Your participation ensures that girls and boys feel seen, heard and believed in.

This year, the categories are Performing Arts, Drawing & Painting, Essay, Poetry & Spoken Word and Crafts. The age groups are 8-12 and 13-19.

One overall winner — the entry that garners the most votes from you — will receive a $100 educational package. The winner of each category in the 8-12 age range will receive a $15 educational package, and the winner of each category of the 13-19 age range will receive a $35 award.

The entries will be posted and voting details will be released next month, so please stay tuned!

And thank you in advance for supporting the 2022 Creative Expressions Contest! It can’t happen without you!

Podcast #2: The Nonprofit Podcast

The world has learned more about Global Sojourns Giving Circle thanks to a new podcast released earlier this month on The Nonprofit Podcast by Donor Box. 

Founder Priscilla Plummer and long-time Believe Club Mentor Gloria Mubita talk to their host Cara Augspurger about what excites and touches them about mentorship work and what’s ahead for GSGC. 

Grab a hot coffee or a cold drink and indulge yourself for 37 minutes! It’s listening time well-spent. 

Mentoring Matters 

Over our 15 years, we’ve grown to support 56 youth clubs in three Southern African countries. Every day, we are inspired by the local women and men who head the clubs — the Mentors — who strive to improve their communities by guiding young people with creativity and dedication.

Relevancy is a key element to our approach, with each Mentor structuring their program to what best suits their youth and community. But we stay in close contact with all Mentors, who submit quarterly reports to GSGC, share information about their practices and keep us updated about activities. Our WhatsApp channels are hopping!

We want to give you a taste of the Mentors’ various approaches and how much mentorship matters in their communities. A comprehensive list would be overwhelming. Instead, here’s a bit of a roundup of the May activities that you help make happen.

Menstrual Hygiene Day May 28

Today, GSGC-sponsored clubs are centering activities around the international effort to build a world where no one is held back because they menstruate. The goal deadline: 2030.

At least three African countries provide free sanitary products to school-age girls, but more commonly, girls stay home from school for lack of products, missing out on crucial educational opportunities. Girls in one GSGC-sponsored club in Zambia are meeting that issue with ingenuity and determination: they raise and sell sunflowers to buy what they need to stay in school all month, each month, and participate in everyday life.

Sunflowers by Isepe Girls Club

Girls and boys alike in communities GSGC serves are learning to break the taboos and end the stigma around menstruation. The work is fundamental to our belief in gender equity and that all people deserve the opportunity to live a life of dignity.

Inspiration

“Instead of being fed facts, our students explore their interests and indulge in painting and drawing, which excites them. Most improve their motor skills, especially adolescents, and (exploring) helps improve academic performance, not just through creativity but learning in areas like math and science as well as the literary field.”

— Mentor Shorai Matambanadzo, Rise N Shine Trust, Lupinyu, Zimbabwe

We are a 501(c)(3) registered organization, so your donation could be tax-deductible. You also can donate stock; read alternatives to donating cash to GSGC. 

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