About

We'd like you to take a moment and imagine..

Imagine you're a woman living in Swayimane, a rural community an hour outside the burgeoning city of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. It's been a month since you last saw your husband, and you're starting to accept the reality that he isn't coming back. You have three children, but you have no job, little education, and no idea how to live on your own. The government welfare you receive barely covers your family's needs, and you don't know how you're going to pay to fix the hole in your roof or for the medical care one of your children needs because he has had a fever for over week.

You ask relatives for help. You ask neighbors for help. They offer what they can, but they have troubles of their own. The hole in your roof is nothing compared to the walls that feel like they're caving in on you everyday.
But still, you hope. You hope for the day when you won't have to worry about how you'll survive because you'll have your own business. You hope for the day you won't have to worry about whether your children will have something to eat or receive the care they need. You hope for the day your family will have a brighter future.

If you can imagine that this isn't an exaggeration but a glimpse of real life for the women Zimele serves, then we encourage you to read on and invest in hope.

Zimele is a unique non-profit organization which seeks not only to meet the daily needs of South Africans in the Kwazulu Natal region today, but also to build the physical, financial, and emotional infrastructure of their lives to improve the entire region.

While there are many non-profit organizations which seek to feed the people of this area we believe it is imperative that each individual learns to feed themselves.  We also believe that each individual must accept and embrace the responsibility of providing for themselves, their families, and their nation.  "Zimele" is Zulu for "I am standing on my own two feet."

Even before the end of the Apartheid rule (1994), a culture of dependence and short term thinking has permeated this once proud area. Many South Africans look to government welfare, charity, and other non-profits to give money, food, and other supplies necessary for daily living. In the event that handouts are not enough, some turn to crime. South Africa currently has one of the highest poverty and violent crime rates in the world. Making things worse, the HIV/AIDS epidemic compounds problems in the lives of millions in the region.

The most devastating effect of this situation is the despair felt by those who can see no other way to live. While some jobs have been created by the government and other groups, many of these are temporary positions which offer no long-term solution to the problem of nearly fifty percent (50%) unemployment. Without resources or teachers to give them the knowledge needed to take control of their lives, failure seems inevitable.

We believe that the situation in South Africa can only be truly improved through the work of those who are most affected by it. Zimele offers teaching and mentoring programs to assist local people (specifically women and children) in creating and developing their own businesses. With the guidance of Zimele's business mentors, we seek to teach the local population how to develop micro-economies. Through production and sales of crafts and other products, locals will be able to export their work through several channels and to a far larger market than merely the tourists in South Africa.

This is how Zimele seeks to empower a community and show them how to stand on their own two feet.