My name is Patience Nxumalo, I am a brave girl. This title suits me best because when I look over my life, I see a girl who had to be brave, in many areas of her life in order to get to where I am today. I am the Visionary and a founder of The Brave Girl Initiative. I am more courageous today than I was 15 years ago. I am that girl, that is for girls, women, ladies, chicas. I enjoy educating young girls, through mentoring, teachings and literally spending time with them. When I was a child, I learned about what a purpose is. I wanted one so bad, and I wanted to know which one was mine. I was told, it was just something God given, and something you feel passionate about. I read my bible and saw so many people who had all kinds of purposes. I always, thought a living a purpose filled life, you had to be a pastor, a missionary, a Paul, a Moses, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, a teacher, but one day as I was reading my bible, I just saw it, I actually saw it and felt it…I am an encourager, a motivator filled with compassion and love for others, especially girls, women and children. And with that I searched out how I can encourage and be a blessing to others.
It wasn’t until I was homeless, sitting on an OC Transport Bench in Canada that the Lord started leading me to a journey towards my purpose. How I ended up there, was only through lack of knowledge about finances and support. I called a friend to ask if I can stay at her house, and she came immediately to pick me up and set me up in her basement, that was filled with boxes, a washing machine and no bed except cushions from an old sofa that I turned into a bed. After a few weeks of feeling sorry for myself, asking how I got here at the age of 24, I decided to go to the library and read. I read and read and read. But there was just one book that completely changed my life. Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza. Her story was one set in the grueling times of the genocide in Rwanda. And when she overcame all she did, I knew I could too. She was the very second Brave Girl I knew. The first was myself…but that time in life, I just didn’t know it.
After being able to reenroll back to college I switched my major from Mass Communications (I wanted to be the next Oprah lol) to Psychology with a double minor in Business Management and Family Science. From that time on, God and I worked to ensure that I knew who I was and who I was meant to be in this world, for His kingdom and His people.
I enjoying working with people, giving them information I wish I had growing up in order for them to make the right decisions. I love to help those in need, and knowledge is definitely power. I noticed upon returning home to Eswatini that a lot of girls especially in the rural areas, do not have the right information, resources, or mentorship available for them to get support, ask questions in order to make good decisions for their lives. And that is how The Brave Girl Initiative was born. We held our first conference in 2022, where we tackled breast cancer, a relationship with God, self-defense and how to achieve your dreams in spite of your circumstances. I am privileged to be doing this work and I hope to be mentoring and motivating girls all over Eswatini for a long time to come. We can change the outcome of many girls in underprivileged communities through mentorship and education outside of school. The afterschool programs, mini conferences, which we do, are helping with this and The Brave Girl Initiative is more than ready to continue with this challenge.
For more information or to support please us, please email me on patience@thebravegirlinitiative.org or message us on Facebook @ facebook.com/bravegirlinit or follow and DM us on Instagram @bravegirl_init