A heartfelt thanks to all who contributed to our initial request early this month to help sustain our Mentors in Southern Africa. The practical financial help and the emotional, mental and spiritual support are greatly appreciated by our partners living in areas where the coronavirus is now spreading.
Early on, our mentors stepped up as leaders to help educate their communities about staying healthy during the pandemic. They are encouraging youth to continue studying at home, and working with families to meet their challenges when most adults are out of work.
While the number of COVID-19 cases could be easing in some places, it is expected to rise in Africa. The need for support will become even more critical as the weeks go on. Please consider making another or monthly donation to GSGC’s COVID-19 campaign.
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GSGC’s money-raising effort is to buy data for Mentors’ mobile phones so they can stay in contact with their club members and buy soap and water buckets for youths who have no running water in their homes -- and other needs that will crop up as the coronavirus pandemic grows in Southern Africa.
The fundraiser will align with
#GivingTuesday’s one-day campaign on May 5.
Our goal is $3,000
. To make your donations go farther, two GSGC supporters – Heidi Johnson Bixby and Lisa Wright, both of Vancouver, Wash.,– have each pledged up to $1,500 in matching money. Together, we can send even more for COVID-19 relief to GSGC-sponsored mentors and youth in Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and Madagascar.
And thank you. We are grateful you care.
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GSGC board members and volunteers are in daily contact with our mentor partners in Southern Africa. Our WhatsApp group is sharing information, strengthening one another, and offering hope across the miles and around the clock. Our community is stronger than ever.
In this special edition of the GSGC newsletter, some mentors and students share their thoughts about the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
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Thank you, GSGC
We know we have other people, (so) we put our shoulders in. We now know that we have people who will stay to support us. We’re so thankful. May God continue to bless you wherever you are. May God protect you even in this time of crisis.
— A Girls Time club member, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
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Education is paramount
Many pupils are going to write exams whether they studied, finished or did not finish their syllabus. It means we’re going to have a high percent of girls and boys failing their final exams. Only those who are privileged to extra lessons, those who come from well-to-do families, they’re the ones who are going to pass.
— Gloria Mubita, Mentor, Believe Club, Livingstone, Zambia
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Social stress
I feel at the height, crime will increase, caused by stress, depression, fear. I feel that within families, there will be high levels of stress causing pressure to the bread winner to provide. People are jobless, and in Africa, most people don’t have savings, it’s hand to mouth.
— Prosper Siphambili, Mentor, Sisonke Boys Club, outside Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
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Rural life
Here in the rural areas, we haven’t recorded any coronavirus cases. That’s why children feel we are safe, they think it’s only in towns. But with me and what I’m seeing, the tension is high. With shops and groceries, we buy our things freely because we don’t go for shopping at the same time. People get money at different intervals, so we don’t get crowded in the shops. On the issue of sanitization, here in the rural areas, nothing has been done.
— Pestrida Muleya, Mentor, Isepe Girls Club, Lipumpu, Zambia
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GSGC is family
In the face of the challenging COVID-19, I personally would like to congratulate GSGC as an organization for providing their partners in Africa with a strong support system. In times like these, most organizations focus on strategies to save themselves at the expense of their employees or partners. However, the support GSGC provided us, the partners, has given us hope. We are confident of the future and that we are not alone in this catastrophe. The greatest support has been witnessed through GSGC’s constant contact with each mentor, checking on their well-being, encouraging and strengthening them to take the role of leadership in their community. GSGC is family.
— Nyika Muyambo, Mentor, Sisonke Boys Club, outside Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
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Tough times now, tough times ahead
In the community where I come from, there is a huge rise of hunger. People were not prepared, and most people from our communities are less privileged. They survive hand-to-mouth. Everyone has been forced to stay at home, and people are slowly exhausting all the food stuffs they had put aside.
— Mercy Sibanda, Mentor, Girls Time, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
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More needs to come
You get creative and think what to do to try to help. We can use the front area of the house and make a vegetable garden; maybe the girls can help make a vegetable garden to be selling later. And get a sewing machine and sew things to sell once the lockdowns are done, to try to have more channels of income that can be sustained because there will be more need than ever before.
— Procedure Chikosi, Mentor, Girls Time, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
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Desperation over distancing
Managed to get into town yesterday. Police are only allowing vehicles carrying one passenger into town. It was me and my sister and the driver, so I had to drop off a kilometer before the police roadblock and walk some coming back. But what I saw in town broke my heart: endless queues for mealie meal, not respecting social distancing because people are so desperate for mealie meal, and the shop was so full of people. It is scary how people are not observing social distancing and how desperate the food issue is becoming.
— Sfe Sebata, Mentor, Rise N Shine, outside Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
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Girls miss school
and an encouraging outlook
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Coronavirus is abysmal for everyone, including myself. Everyone is overwhelmed by sadness, especially those who do not have access to the internet to research and study. This will cause students to be left behind. Studying at home and teaching yourself new topics is difficult.
A few words of encouragement to my peers: This is the time to critically think about your life. Do not use COVID-19 as a disabling crutch of not reaching your goals. YOU ARE CAPABLE OF ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS, NO MATTER THE SITUATION. Lost time is never found. Failure to plan is a plan to fail. Set goals that will make you an unstoppable force in the face of challenges and adversity.
— Pamela Nyoni, 16, Girls Time, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
I feel bad because when exams come, we’re going to fail because school closed early. It’s not good to close early. And we don’t know when the coronavirus will end in this country. Girls are people who can lose hope fast.
— Monde Manyando, 15, grade 9, Isepe Girls Club, Lipumpu, Zambia
Our schools have been closed. Our neighbors, our parents, relatives, they’ve been told not to come to work. Public places have been closed, and the borders. My mom was supposed register for me for my O Level writing exam, but because she’s been sent back home, she can’t afford to pay the registration. It’s so painful.
— Thubalenkosi Sibanda, 18, Girls Time, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
We don’t know when we are going to open schools or have money for food and other things. A lot of things have become so expensive due to closing of the border. Most people here order their things in Namibia, so when the border is closed, they buy in Zambia, and they increased the prices.
— Jessica Mulenga, 14, grade 9, Isepe Girls Club, Lipumpu, Zambia
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GSGC Earns Coveted GuideStar Gold Seal
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Great news: GSGC has earned a
Gold Seal of Transparency from GuideStar — a ranking only one-half percent of organizations on GuideStar achieve.
GuideStar gathers, organizes and distributes IRS data and up-to-date information on 1.8 million US tax-exempt nonprofits. Potential donors can find the information for free.
GuideStar's mission is “to revolutionize philanthropy by providing information that advances transparency, enables users to make better decisions, and encourages charitable giving.”
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Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Time: 9:00 am PST / 12:00 noon EST
Phone: 605-468-8005 (toll free)
Code: 603003#
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Get an update about the coronavirus pandemic in Southern Africa from our mentors in Zambia and Zimbabwe during a conference call at 9 am Pacific Daylight Time on Tuesday, May 5. Ask questions, stay informed.
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Same Virus, Same Initiative, Two Continents
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Mercy Sibanda knew how to sew. Bruce Klein has learned to sew.
Without adequate supplies of protective masks against the deadly coronavirus, Mercy in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Bruce, a GSGC board member, and his wife, Ellen Walsh, in Cranford, New Jersey — the second-hardest hit state in the US — are making face masks to fight the pandemic.
“This would mean so much to the girls,” said Mercy, a Mentor with Girls Time club. “They are in need, and if we are able to come to their rescue, then why not?”
Although Mercy has at times made her living by sewing, she’s turning out cloth masks on a rented sewing machine she tracked down. The masks are for GSGC-supported Mentors and club members. There are no masks to buy, and with so many parents out of work in the tourism-dependent Victoria Falls area, food is the priority over devising a way to cover your mouth and nose, she said.
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Bruce and Ellen read about shortages of personal protective equipment in nearby New York City, the epicenter of COVID-19 cases in the US. Ellen found a mask pattern online and pulled out her sewing machine.
At first, Bruce was in charge of preparations — cutting fabric in two different sizes and cutting the right length of elastic for ear straps. But when a friend of Ellen’s offered her sewing machine for the effort, Bruce studied the owner’s manual, picked up tips from Ellen, and sat down to work.
About 200 masks later, they have outfitted their children and grandchildren, friends, friends of friends, post office workers and volunteers in their church’s soup kitchen. The next beneficiary will be a local charity that works with the immigrant community.
In Victoria Falls, Mercy takes her role seriously. She knows GSGC-sponsored clubs include young people from less privileged families. Her efforts will demonstrate “that we really value lives,” she said.
“I foresee much response and support after the lockdown because most organizations come through to people when they are well, but run in times of hardship,” she said. “We are different, and this would prove how special we are.”
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Keeping Africa Close
How to stay connected to Southern Africa
when the pandemic keeps us apart,
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— Agness Buya Yombwe, Wayi Wayi Girls, Livingstone, Zambia
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The Dilemma of COVID-19
Mentor Sfe Sebata of Rise N Shine Club traces Zimbabwe’s recent history and sets the stage for how the country might deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. A former Economics student, Sfe says Western solutions to African problems don’t work.
Africa needs African solutions, she argues.
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I am the respiratory disease,
known as febris “Italica”
The English once called me “sweate”
English sweats, In Spain they called
Me influenza, actually I am
neurasthenia, a nervous
condition brought on
by the stresses and strain
of economic warfare
if you are reading this,
Stand back from the page!!
And disinfect yourself!!
Co-vi-vid 19 here I come,
Old age I smite with the corona, In
Every country, I have carpeted with
Huddled blanketed forms,
People dropping like flies
In numbers,
A common flu, I am mutated into
A deadlier infection,
I ain’t something of a
Joke, even the big guns of
Politics don’t have a clue,
Your grandmas went under today,
Their servants yesterday
Imagine the work that falls
On unaffected doctor and the
Youths
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A common flu, I am mutated into
A deadlier infection,
Stoicism now beginning to be your
characteristic
Never perhaps should I be
Stoically accepted
Convalescing at your homes
When sick, an inner
Dimension of emotion,
messengers of meaning between
different disciplines,
send across cultural domains,
Regimental officers of
Economic warfare, sorry
I meant to say chemical
Warfare
my historiographical
characterization is the
forgotten pandemic.
People in the streets,
Taught by my viral behavior,
To take keener interest
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In foreign affairs
Discussing news of my new
Pandemic status,
spreading
With such surprising
Rapidity in China
Europe and America
And cheerfully anticipated
Is My arrival in Africa
For black is their
Beauty I might
Spare them for
Now, but soon or
Later they will
Remember the
Days of Pharaoh
Hey you, Mrs. Mention
Stop longing out your
Mouth just yesterday
You were smitten
By cyclone Ideai,
Who came, swept past
and went, corpses afloat,
I am here to stay
And what do you have
To say?
Mind your speech
And tone down
Your vernacular
Keep your mask on,
And mind your emotional
Utterance.
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— Shorai Matambanadzo, Mentor, Rise N Shine, outside Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
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—Kangwa Yombwe, Wayi Wayi Art Studio, Livingstone, Zambia
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