Stay connected to the news, our team and our young people through these stories and regular updates on Facebook , Instagram and the GSGC blog .

Thank you for your generosity
Your donations will go far to help our Mentors support their club members and communities through these tough times. With the coronavirus pandemic having quickly devastated tourism-dependent communities in Southern Africa and the number of COVID-19 cases now accelerating, our Mentors’ leadership is more important than ever.
Inspired Innovation
This boy’s grandmother said that after having learnt at Sisonke about washing hands as a preventive measure against the spread of the coronavirus, he made this and put it by the gate to their homestead so that anyone who comes in washes hands.

 — Nyika Muyambo, Mentor, Sisonke Boys Club, outside Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Lockdown: Urban and Rural Differences
Lockdown rules and enforcement vary in the Southern African communities where GSGC works. Whether quarantined in towns, cities or the countryside, Mentors are finding different ways to keep in touch with their club members and help them manage daily life.

Here’s a sampling:
Mentor Gloria Mutiba of Believe Club has twice taken to the Livingstone, Zambia radio airwaves to discuss safe practices during the pandemic.
Mentor Pestrida Muleya of Isepe Girls Club in rural Zambia counsels members outside and at the opposite end of a bench.
Mentors with Sisonke Boys Club, outside Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, planted a garden for food and a chance to meet with members – and for them to learn new life skills while keeping a safe physical distance apart
With space between them, members of Masizakhe Youth Art Project in Cape Town, South Africa danced away stress to a tune promoting good hygiene.
A Nurse’s Perspective: A GSGC grad shares her experience 
Conditions of work during this coronavirus pandemic aren't 100 percent safe for us. Masks are provided, but we're given only one mask to use for a whole week. Gowns are not there, but we're using hospital aprons to cover our uniforms.

Despite that, I do not anticipate COVID-19 cases in my town because strict measures are put up. People understand and are observing social distancing, there's frequent hand-washing as there's a hand-washing bucket of water and soap almost everywhere! Banks, shops, supermarkets, hospitals... Coming to my place of work, there's a compulsory COVID-19 screening for every person who enters the hospital premises, whether staff or visitor. Those found wanting are kept until proven fit to leave. There are hand-washing buckets at each entrance door and each ward.

— A GSGC-sponsored club alumna working as a nursing student in Zambia.
Poems and Commentary from Mentors
GSGC-sponsored mentors have been reflecting on today’s challenges. Mentor Sfe Sebata and her husband, Shorai Matambanadzo, both of Rise N Shine outside Victoria Falls, want to “contribute to the national voice” and “push issues rural youth and women face.” Here are three of Sfe’s essays and two of Shorai’s poems
Good Hygiene, Little Water
By The Sanitation Learning Hub, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex
An Inspiring Read
By Jacqueline Novogratz, author of The Blue Sweater, founder of The Acumen Fund
—K angwa Yombwe, Wayi Wayi Art Studio, Livingstone, Zambia
— Drawing of coronavirus by Sonja, 9, Victoria Falls, Zimbabawe
— Little Gloria’s song, Believe Club, Livingstone, Zambia
— Collage by GSGC donor Marybeth Buck of Portland, Oregon, singing by Mentor Mercy Sebata of Girls Time, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
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