Girls Leading Our World

November 5th, 2008 by Adria Mooney

An interview with Adria Mooney and James DiPadua, the founders of Partners with GLOW, an organization working to help AIDS orphans in Zambia in partnership with the GLOW Club. GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) is a loosely defined organization started by a Peace Corps volunteer, and has since spread throughout the Peace Corps. Adria and James visited Adria’s sister, Alyssa Mooney, in Zambia. Alyssa is currently a Peace Corp volunteer in Mushota, Zambia, and her work inspired Adria and James to become involved when they returned home to the U.S.

What can you tell us about Partners with GLOW?
In Mushota, Zambia, the organization is comprised solely of AIDS orphaned girls. Partners with GLOW seeks to help these girls raise the funds needed to finish their education through High School. Unlike in the United States, the Zambian government does not sponsor education through grade 12. Schools begin charging tuition after the seventh grade. Frequently the children most at risk in already impoverished areas are orphans, and worst among them are the girls. Partners with GLOW’s primary goal is to help the GLOW club of Mushota, Zambia develop a number of useful life-skills, including income generation, responsibility, and goals as well as good social skills of community support. In Zambia, possessing a twelfth grade education puts one at a great advantage.

GLOW Club girls making jewelry

Prostitution and its effects are also a main cause of the HIV virus spreading throughout sub-Saharan Africa - among other issues within sanitary and health care practices. By providing the GLOW Club of Mushota the support they need in order to achieve a good level of education, it’s the hope of Partners with GLOW that these girls will never be pulled into prostitution.

How do you help the girls?
Partners with GLOW is testing different income generation projects that the girls can sell to caring, aware US citizens. Since they are just young girls, there is no pressure from Partners with GLOW or “output expectations.” Right now the girls are having a great time making beaded jewelry, expressing and exploring their creative sides. In the past, the Mushota GLOW club has also made place mats from the brightly patterned local material “Chitenge,” producing some beautiful place settings.

How can someone get involved?
In addition to accepting donations, Partners with GLOW sells the jewelry that the Mushota girls make. This is an opportunity to illustrate that industrious, entrepreneurial activity does make a difference. It’s our goal that the girls will learn more than just a mentality of “work for money.” We also hope the GLOW Club will learn fiscal responsibility and basic money management. Since we only manage the funds in the US – then transfer them directly to their group bank account, the girls are responsible for making sure they budget correctly for their education. We have an adult mentor, Ba Chomba, who currently works closely with us. She is receiving the training she will need in order to make sure the girls and the club as a whole are ready for the challenges ahead.

Ba Chomba, the GLOW Club mentor

How is the program affecting the lives of the girls?
The girls are making great progress towards their education. For example, Christabel is 14 years old and is currently in 9th grade at Mushota Basic School. Her favorite activities are playing netball and dancing. She lost her parents when she was 5, and moved in with her aunt’s family in Mushota 3 years ago. Christabel explains that living with her relatives in Mushota is very difficult for her, “I am given a lot of hard work while my cousins just work a little bit. It does not make me feel good when I’m treated this way, it makes me think about my parents. I start to really miss them.”
In school, Christabel enjoys learning English, Mathematics and Science, “When I’m taught these subjects, I find that I’m able to understand them well. I especially enjoyed learning about electricity and geometry. My goal is to finish school and become an accountant so that I can earn money to support other orphans like myself.”

Christabel, 14

“I love the GLOW Club because I’ve learned many things. I’ve learned how to make placemats, which are my favorite things to make. I’ve learned how to keep myself at school, not to get married early, and how to choose good friends that help me to change my life. I also earn money that helps me to stay in school because I’m able to buy the school uniform, books, and pay my school fees.”

For Term 2, May through July, 2008, Christabel bought a backpack, a school uniform, a sweater and notebooks with the money she earned.

Rosemary is 15 years old, and is currently working on grade 8. Rosemary loves reading books and playing hide and seek. Rosemary was born in the capitol, Lusaka, where she stayed with her parents until they passed away 8 years ago. She had no other relatives in Lusaka, so she had no choice but to move to the distant village of Mushota where her grandmother farms. Life changed drastically for Rosemary when her parents passed away, “My mom was able to afford most things for us, but since my grandmother is old, when I need something she often says, ‘I don’t have this, I don’t have that’.”

Rosemary has found guidance and support from the GLOW Club, “I like GLOW because I have learned how to look after myself, to avoid early marriage and pregnancy so I can complete my education. GLOW is helping me to continue my education because I am now able to buy what I need for school, which solves the problem that was hindering me.”

Rosemary is a strong, confident young woman with goals and direction. She feels that if she becomes educated, she will have a chance at a brighter future: “I like going to school because I want to be educated so I can live a happy life. I am happy to be learning English because when I start working I’ll be able to speak English with my boss and co-workers…My goal for now is to qualify for grade 10. I want to be a nurse because I don’t want so many people to be dying.

“The most important thing about GLOW is that making these crafts and selling them is helping me to become educated. I want these things to continue so I can even go to college.”
For term 2, May-July, Rosemary purchased a uniform and a sweater with the money she earned.

Glow Club girls making jewelry

Tags: GLOW club of Mushota, HIV, Lusaka, Mushota Basic School, Peace Corps, Zambia
Posted in Articles, Children and Youth, Economic Development, Education, Women's Issues