Barbara Chisvo was born in 1974 in Zimbabwe and moved with her family to South Africa in 2010. She is married to Simba Bunu and the couple is blessed with two sons. Arnold is 20 years old and is studying computer science, Anthony is 16 years old and is in the 10th grade. The family lives in Fish Hoek near Cape Town.

Barbara is a trained kindergarten teacher (diploma), Waldorf teacher, mentor and art educator in the community. She has 22 years of experience in working with children from disadvantaged communities and has been supporting kindergartens for many years in planning age-appropriate activities.

Her heart’s desire is to give disadvantaged girls from Masiphumelele a place to go, to accompany them, to encourage and support them in their development. Barbara loves to spend time with her family, she likes to cook and travel and is an avid reader.

The project

Sonwabise is a Xhosa name and means “Make us happy, hear our stories” and Tese is a Shona name and means “Together we can do it”.

Sonwabise -Tese is aimed at girls from 9 to 18 years. The group lessons take place on Friday afternoons from 2.30 pm to 5 pm and vary from playing games, doing handicrafts, folklore dances, painting and guessing games. Last autumn the girls learned to sew (by hand).

Prayer together, a lively community in which the girls experience personal appreciation, space for discussions with possible solutions to problems are just as important to us as, for example, training courses in different areas. Since the girls come directly from school and often have not eaten all day, a small snack is part of the program. The participants enjoy eating and drinking in community, exchanging ideas and getting to know each other better.

Our Team

Hooray for diversity!

Our team consists of women of different ages and nationalities.

“We give disadvantaged girls from Masiphumelele a place to go, encourage them and support them in their development. “

“The girls should be empowered to find and live the best version of themselves.”