Zimele - Developing Community Self-Reliance » Mentorship http://www.zimelecommunity.org Developing Community Self-Reliance Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:31:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Who makes the first move in real community developement? http://www.zimelecommunity.org/2010/03/07/who-makes-the-first-move-in-real-community-developement/ http://www.zimelecommunity.org/2010/03/07/who-makes-the-first-move-in-real-community-developement/#comments Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:07:13 +0000 Stephen Sharkey http://www.zimelecommunity.org/?p=644 One of the great needs within under-resourced communities in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa is basic home care.  This is the kind of service that would greatly burden any non-profit organization, yet the need is often too great to ignore.  Zimele is well aware of the need, but they know that to take on such a task would overwhelm them.  That’s okay though, that’s not how Zimele works.  Zimele doesn’t exist to provide the many kinds of care that the Zulu people so desperately need, Zimele exists to empower the people to help themselves.   So patience is the order of the day.

If Zimele rushes to fill the need they will be under resourced and unprepared.  Furthermore this will perpetuate the mentality of many of the people that they can just wait for other people to meet there needs.  However, if Zimele works at mentoring women and fostering community, the table is set for them to care for themselves.  In a conversation today with Zimele founder and Director, Rosetta Stander, she predicted it won’t be long until there are women in the community who want to start a home care group.  This will mean some more work for Zimele, but because the people in the community will be making the first move, the likelihood of success is far greater.  Their ownership of such a project will insure that Zimele workers will not become burned out with a wave of new time-consuming work.  Instead, people from the village will be the ones to run it.

I love this model!  Westerners so often come into a situation and ask, “how can I fix this?”  This savior-mentality may be quicker, but it can create dependency for the suffering and burn out for the care givers.  Zimele chooses a different route.  One that seeks to develop the people first, then watch and serve as the people themselves seek to better their own community.  It is amazing!

]]> http://www.zimelecommunity.org/2010/03/07/who-makes-the-first-move-in-real-community-developement/feed/ 1 Meet the iThemba Barbers http://www.zimelecommunity.org/2010/02/14/37/ http://www.zimelecommunity.org/2010/02/14/37/#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:04:42 +0000 Sung Choi http://zimelecommunity.com/pub/2010/02/14/37/ iThemba Barbers

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.

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