During the month of September 2011, Zimele facilitated HIV/AIDS and life-skills training over 6 days to 45 women, representing 4 Self-Help Clusters. The expected outcome of the training is that women in their Clusters begin to run projects in response to the needs in their community.

In one of the training sessions the women were asked to discuss some of the challenges that they faced when working with vulnerable children. The Zimele staff were shocked to hear horrifying stories of the sexual abuse of young children from the women.  A common theme was the rape and sexual abuse of the vulnerable in households with a small shared living space. Most vulnerable families live in small one or two roomed traditional houses where young and old, female and male household members share the space.

An incident of a 3 year-old child being sexually abused by her under-age brother was brought up. The mother to these children sought help from one of the women in the Self-Help programme, who willingly stepped-in. She asked the young boy why he was abusing his sister. He answered that he felt compelled and was haunted by the vivid images that he had witnessed of intimacies between his father and mother when he was young. Apparently this young boy is also addicted to pornographic material, which he mostly gets through the TV. 

After the training the women were tasked to come-up with Cluster project plans. Below are the plans for 2 Clusters, Thembanani and Sizanani:

·      Thembanani already works with OVCs who go to school. It will expand its activities to include life-skills with a focus on sex education, HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). It is also targeting young people over the age of 18 years who attend computer training, a project it is hosting on behalf of all the 8 Swayimane Clusters. Currently, there are 42 young people attending computer training and Thembanani would like to include these young people in its life–skills project. Other than sex education, these young people will be trained in the skills they need to secure livelihoods. A team of young Self-Help Group members in one of Thembanani’s member groups will be leading this project. They have already made contact with a Director of the organization School Leavers Opportunity Training (SLOT), based in Pietermaritzburg, who work to build life-skills in young people. This organization has committed itself to conduct trainings with young people next year, 2012.  This Cluster included the idea of seeking partnerships with psychologist and doctors in addressing children’s issues. It also mentioned including sport, various competitions and meal sharing in its activities.

·      Sizanani. This is a fairly new Cluster but it has resolved to start a life-skills project that will focus on addressing teenage pregnancy. The Cluster has committed itself to start by raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and STIs among the care-givers of children through home visits to the households. These visits will also serve as a formal way of the Cluster introducing its project to the community and seeking care-givers’ permission to work with the children. The Cluster’s strategy is to group children into age bands; one for primary school children and the other for High school learners. It also plans to run some separate training for female and male children in order to give them the freedom and space to address their needs.

In addition to life-skills training, the Cluster plans to address the physical needs of the children depending on their circumstances. This Cluster also included the idea of sport as one of its activities with the children. By the beginning of October Sizanani has conducted home visits in the community to 6 households. The Cluster will meetmid-October to finalize its strategy.

The project received a donation of a camera through Zimele Canada. The women were so overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. They were surprised when they heard that they would have to learn to use it themselves. The Zimele staff reported that the women’s hands shook in fear as they handled the camera, one after the other, to try and take photos.

The Zimele staff see this as an empowering move. The women can now tell their own story through images. The camera will help the women gather photographs for their reports. Then they will be able to give a visual report on the situation of the children they are working with, and also show their physical and material interventions.

Photos taken by the women on the Project – On their journey to mastering the skill of photography:

Orphan and Vulnerable Clild Care Project’s members are working hard in the community of Swayimani for their beneficiaries. One of the beneficiary in the project is the young boy who has ambitions of furthering his studies in the University. Mrs Ndlovu (aka MaZuma) the leader of the OVC project ccompanied Thobani Sithole to the University Of KwaZulu Natal for Career Counselling with his ambition for career choices.

Thobani Sithole is in his last year of school doing Grade 12 in Sbongumusa High School in the Valley of Swayimani. He is the eldest of seven siblings who are orphans 3 boys and 4 girls. Thobani see education as the way out of his poverty situation and to bring hope in his family that only depends on the pension pay of his granny. In his childhood he find himself having to take care of his younger siblings and to protect them. He has to accompany his granny who is struggling with alcohol abuse to the pension payout. This means he has to accompany her to the pay point during pension payout to make money is used properly for family food.

Thobani has the opportunity to go to University because of a conpationate donor from
Germany. Thobani is planning to go to the University in 2012 and to pursue a career in
Management Acounting. Mrs MaZuma accompanied him to his Career Counselling Session at the University Of KwaZulu Natal. The career counsellor advice him according to his subject choices and his performance in certain subjects. From this advice the counsellor suggest he study Bachelor Of Art and Major in two subject which compulsory includes amajor of his choice and another major with the name of the degree. The second option is the Bachelor Of Science with two majors as well. And the last option is the Bachelor of Law ( LLB). „“I’m very happy with this session and it help me understand my strengths that will help me follow the right career choice,“said Thobani.

Ubumbano Savings Group

The women of the Ubumbano savings group started a collective farming venture using land donated by a group member and by pooling their savings to buy seeds, fertilizer, and farming tools. They have already used half of the field to plant and harvest potatoes with plans to use the other half to plant maize.

The group currently has 14 members and has saved R1234 to date. One of the members is 85 years old and she is using the benefits from the group to improve the wellbeing of her extended family of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

One member of the group lent the group use of her field to start a collective economic farming venture. The group used their savings to buy seeds, farming tools, and fertilizer. They have so far used half of the field to plant potatoes which will be ready for harvest in a month's time. They plan to use the other half of the field to plant maize.

Vukuzenzele Egg Vendors

This savings group pooled their savings to start a group business. They bought 18 trays of eggs for each of them to sell. They sold the eggs at 2x their costs, which allowed them to repay the group loan and have enough money to buy another 18 trays of eggs debt free!

The fourteen women of the Vukuzenzele self help / savings group pooled their individual savings together to start a group business venture. They collectively borrowed R300 to start an egg selling business. With the initial group savings they purchased 18 trays of eggs and distributed among the women in the group to sell. Which they were able to sell for R600! From the sales, they were able to pay back the R300 loan and still have R300 remaining to invest back into the business. There plan is to buy another 18 trays of eggs, sell the eggs, double their purchase capacity, and go from there.

The recent success of the group is even more encouraging given that when the group first launched, one of the members borrowed from the group and then disappeared with the money. Despite that setback, they resolved to continue with the group but only allow loans to be taken against the group for group ventures instead of allowing individuals to loans from other members of the group. Through Zimele's capacity building workshops the group members were able to regain their trust with each other and get to their current place.

iThemba Barbers

Mthobisi and Nkosingiphil, two young orphan boys and their friend, Nkululeko who lives with his mother joined the iThemba Self-Help-Group in 2007. All three boys are in Secondary School.

With their savings they bought a hair shaving kit and started a haircutting business to earn enough money to put themselves through school. Mthobisi and Nkosingiphile also use the money to buy food for their siblings. The savings and business skills they learned in the Self-Help-Groups taught them how to save and how to start and run their business.

Mthobisi and Nkosingiphile said that it is tough to be a parent while you are still a child yourself. Fortunately, the members in the Self-Help-Groups have filled the role of a caring family and the weekly meetings have become the highlight of the week for the two orphan brothers.

Zamakuhle Savings Group

In Zulu, zamakuhle means ‘we are trying to achieve the best’. This name signifies the hope that the savings group brings to the women, since many of the 10 women are grandmothers of orphaned grandchildren due to AIDS. As the members learned financial discipline, they were able to consistently purchase food to feed their grandchildren. As they became better savers, and as their savings grew, they able to use loans to dramatically transform their lives. One woman in the group, took out a loan to buy a brick making machine so she could add a room to her home. She used this room to open up a ‘tuck’ shop or a small grocery store. Prior to this, she ran a ‘spaza’ or a small road side stand and was barely making ends meet. The new addition allowed to her work from home, sell a greater variety of products and provide food and education to her grandchildren. One of the objectives of the savings groups is to develop a spirit of community trust and cooperation. As the women in Zamakuhle group met, they soon recognized a common need for fresh and inexpensive produce. They decided to start a group vegetable garden. Lacking access to a reliable source of water, they not only identified the nearby high school as the ideal location, but approached the school and obtain its permission to use its water for their garden.

Khethano Artisans Group

Yvonne is a middle-aged, African lady who lives in a one room house, all by herself just outside town. She was married, but her Zulu husband abused her and her only child and then left. He might be dead because Yvonne is now HIV/AIDS positive.

Her family, who live just 100m away, have ostracized Yvonne when she became sick and her son, who worked as a fuel attendant in town, was arrested by police last year and is still in jail. The illness and worries was detrimental to her well being, physically she became very sick, it entered her soul, stole her dignity and confidence and left her bereft of any hope.

Yvonne was nearly dead before she sought help from a hospice run by a Zulu granny. She was given (antiretroviral drugs) ARV’s and slowly but surely her body started fighting back. She recovered to such an extent that she was able to return home and reseal her house with mud before the summer rains started.

She heard about Zimele and during a visit to her home, I convinced her to join the Khethano group of Zulu grandmothers who made the embroidered blocks for our handbags. She did not turn up the first time. The second time, someone went to visit her. The third time she asked someone to go with her. She had embroidered one block, but she lacked the confidence to show anyone.

The grandmothers in the group realised that something was wrong and reached out to this thin woman who has been robbed of all dignity and self esteem. They told her that they were also scared the first time, that they also did not know what to expect, that they were also insecure about their work but that now, after only a couple of months of training and practice, their embroidered blocks have become their proud signatures.

Now, after three months, Yvonne is making 12 blocks a week – bright, beautiful designs and flowers, and her speciality, a happy human figure waving to whoever cares to wave back! She does not miss a workshop. Although she still does not talk much, her shy smile has become a regular feature at each meeting where the friends from the group have embraced her with the love that each human being on this earth deserves.