Donations go to Ilizwi, a women’s empowerment group

Every Friday evening at 5 o’clock, Liz Young and her roommates host 20 to 30 people for dinner in their off-campus apartment.

The weekly supper club, which diners pay $5 to attend, supports

, a young women’s empowerment program near Cape Town, South Africa. Young, a senior in the College of Nursing, helped found the group when she studied abroad there last spring.

When Young worked at a youth center in Cape Town, she said many girls only came to get STI or pregnancy tests, but didn’t stay for after-school programs. Realizing that these girls were not receiving enough positive messages, Young and her co-workers decided to begin an empowerment program targeted specifically at young women.

“Girls weren’t speaking up,” Young said. “They were confined by the patriarchal society within South Africa.”

Ilizwi, which means “voice” in the isiXhosa language, began with an after-school curriculum that included art, motivation, sexual health education and career planning. The program now runs two days per week.

The girls who attend are typically between 14 and 17 years old and are from Siyaphamblili, an orphan village near Cape Town. There, they are responsible for caring for younger orphans.

“The girls were taking care of the little kids, but nothing was being done for them,” Young said.

The organizers of Ilizwi wanted to make sure that the young women who attend would positively benefit from the program.

“Empowerment cannot be given to somebody,” Young said. “But they can find it within themselves if given the opportunity to see what they have a chance of becoming. We wanted to give them that chance.”

Young had hoped to come back to Marquette and fundraise for Ilizwi, but she struggled to solicit gifts. On a trip back to South Africa over Christmas break, Young attended a supper club.

“Everyone knew about it,” Young said. “It was every Wednesday and tons of people would go. So we decided to start our own.”

Since returning from South Africa in January, Young and her roommates have hosted their own supper club every Friday.

They make a meat and vegetarian dish as well as a few sides.

“The response has been really great,” Young said. “Every week it is a different group of people. We have our regulars, but there is always a new dynamic.”

The people who attend say the food is good, but the people and the cause are the true reasons for attending.

“I know that the money I contribute goes to a cause that actually sees results rather than some sightless promise of making a difference,” said Charlie Puckett, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences. “The supper club gives people like me, who have not been to Africa, the chance to support a cause a friend believes in.”

Young usually raises between $40 and $50 from the dinners every week. Most of the money goes toward transportation costs for Ilizwi to take girls to different activities, Young said.

“Since the mission is the reason for the weekly ritual, I find great pride in what Liz is doing,” said Leah Mescher, Young’s roommate and a senior in the College of Nursing. “She didn’t come back from studying abroad and put it all behind her, or dream about what she could be doing if she was still there. Instead she chooses action and continues to support something she is proud of starting.”