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March 23, 2008 - Funeral Saving Funds
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| Written by Anthony Kim |
| I was invited to a funeral a couple of days ago. I was kind of curious, but Wellington and I already had plans, so we declined. It seems like funerals are a fairly common occurrence around here and I have no doubt that one of these days, I will be invited to another one.
One of the Self Help Groups that I attended last week actually had a funeral fund. They put a certain amount of money in every month and if any of the members of the group had a funeral, they would take out a certain amount and give it to that member. This is on top of their regular savings program that they do. I don’t know about you and me, but a funeral is the last thing I’m saving for, but the members of that group find it necessary to put money aside every month. It shows what kind of the society that they are living in where death lurks in every corner.
Since much of the AIDs epidemic seems to target the working age group, there are a lot of families that take in orphans if they had some kind o... (625 more chars) |
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March 13, 2008 - First Impressions
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| Written by Anthony Kim |
| I struggled for the past few days on how to accurately describe Zimele in just a couple of paragraphs. There’s so much that I learned in the last couple of days and I’m really excited to share, but it’s difficult to get into words. I finally got to see Zimele in action today. Previously, I’ve only heard bits and pieces about exactly what Zimele does, but the parts that I did hear, made me very excited because it was something that I truly believed in.
The whole vision of Zimele is to change people’s mindset from receiving handouts to taking care of themselves. Rosetta told me that it’s very difficult to get people out of poverty in Swayimane and in many parts of South Africa because the community’s culture breeds a sense of reliance on others. Zimele wants to facilitate communities to act on their own accord and take responsibility for their own finances and in the long run, their entire community. That’s the basics of Zimele. Traditi... (2361 more chars) |
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March 6, 2008 - New Staff!
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| Written by Audrey Matimelo |
| I am so happy to announce that we have added two new community facilitators to our Self Help / Savings Group program. We have been looking for additional community facilitators as an increasing demand for new SHG / savings groups was pushing to workload of our current staff past capacity.
What I love about our organization and our staff is that Zimele not only helps our participants 'stand on their own two feet', but our staff as well. For many of our full time and part time staff, Zimele is their primary source of income. But more than just financial benefits, Zimele offers them a means to grow in so many different areas, such as in their heart for their community, learning how to become a community leader, or pursuing their dream as a social worker. This is clearly evident in the lives of our two new staff members Nonku and Nonhlahla.
Meet Nonkululeko Ndlovu
Nonkululeko, whose nickname is Nonku, is a young woman of 22 years. In her family she has 3 brothers and siste... (984 more chars) |
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February 27, 2008 - My Visit to Zimele
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| Written by Peter Ahn |
| In January, I had the opportunity to visit South Africa to witness the progress of Zimele in South Africa. It was a wonderful trip where, in the midst of the destruction, I saw so much hope in South Africa. I was amazed to see the great work that Zimele is doing. Rosetta Heunis, Executive Director of Zimele South Africa, is doing a terrific job of empowering the people of Kwazulu Natal to stand on their own two feet. The vision of Zimele is to help people in Africa who have been ravaged by poverty and the AIDS pandemic to regain hope and a purpose by becoming self sufficient in every area of life.
It was encouraging to see the impact that Zimele is making in South Africa. I had the opportunity to meet Zulu people involved in Zimele’s savings program and the arts and crafts projects, and I learned that Zimele is doing more than just helping people make money. More importantly, it is restoring hope one life at a time. Through Zimele, communities are being created, interperso... (1132 more chars) |
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February 5, 2008 - iThemba Barbershop
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| Written by Rosetta Heunis |
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I wanted share with you another story from the field that captures the spirit of Zimele. The life of Mthobisi, Nkosingiphil, and Nkuleko demonstrates how a simple concept such as our savings group when combined with a person's determination and resourcefulness can enable even children to 'stand on their own two feet'
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 membe... (184 more chars) |
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January 28, 2008 - Vukuzenzele Egg Business
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| Written by Audrey Matimelo |
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I heard the most amazing story from one of our savings coordinator, which I immediately wanted to share with you. Stories like these remind me of why I went back to school so I could devote my life to serving the 'vulnerable'
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 wi... (416 more chars) |
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January 13, 2008 - Tess' Story
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| Written by Tess Bone |
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As a student from the United States visiting South Africa to study development issues, I first became interested in Zimele upon discovering its declaration of an empowerment-focused development approach. I have learned of the poor track record of development NGOs in the past decades, of the lack of sustainability or of any consideration at all of the opinions or abilities of the people the NGO is seeking to help. I believe in allowing people to realize their own potential to improve their situation, that the only way to achieve true long-lasting development is, as “Zimele” means, to stand on one’s own two feet. Thus, I was eager to see if this high ideal could be seen in practice on-the-ground. I sought to learn more about how Zimele’s Self Help Groups (SHG) empower the impoverished people of this beautiful land, and to see if Zimele really achieves (as so few organizations actually do) a project that neither imposes nor condescends, but one which works wi... (4281 more chars) |
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October 6, 2007 - Zimele Cruise!
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| Written by Ronald Kwak |
| On Saturday Oct 6, Zimele USA hosted a day and an evening cruise along the Hudson to raise money for our programs in South Africa.
The weather was beautiful providing all of the attendees beautiful views of the Manhattan skyline.
(Mrs Ahn and Mrs Huh and the Stephanie and Andy Rosic taking in the Manhattan skyline sans kids)
Throughout each of the 3 hour cruise, our 35+ guests were treated to a wonderful pan asian gourmet menu catered by the Scent of Jasmine catering company.
Not only did everyone have a great time but in the process we raised over $5,000!
We would like to give a shout out to Bill Hwang and Elliot Kang for donating the use of their yacht to host our event and to Scent of Jasmine for providing the catering free of charge. As a result of their generosity, 100% of the money raised went directly to fund our programs in South Africa.
Thank you to all of our guests for coming out and supporting us!
Here are a few more pics... (776 more chars) |
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September 28, 2007 - Meet Yvonne
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| Written by Rosetta Heunis |
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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 co... (1182 more chars) |
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September 19, 2007 - Drakensberg Crafts Group
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| Written by Rosetta Heunis |
| I visited the Drakensberg handicraft projects yesterday and was pleasantly surprise by the group’s commitment and enthusiasm. The groups has settled now (it’s not a situation of different people every time we meet with them) and they also formed a social support group. But I'll have to save story about the social support group for another time... Our workshop at Ketanie takes place under this tree. This is where the skills training, quality control and buying and selling happens.
These ladies produce the embroidered blocks, which they produce at home; we pay them R4.00 per block. Their production increased from one block per week to 12 blocks per week, sometimes more, depending on the person and her situation (is she sick herself, does she care for a dying family member and the nr of children in the household). That’s why most of the ladies regard this as part time work.
We then we take the blocks to a group of seamstresses in Loskop (also in the Central ... (1952 more chars) |
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March 30, 2007 - Return Home
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| Written by Rosetta Heunis |
| Mildred (the director of the community based organization, iThembalethu) wanted to hear about my trip to the USA. I showed her photos and told her how beautiful New York is and about all the wonderful people I’ve met. I explained to her the function of ZIMELE USA and the highly committed volunteers who so willingly offer their service. She sends her love and can’t wait to see you all next year! On Tuesday I went to Inchanga to spend time with Ntombi, the Savings Coordinator, and her Community Volunteers, Buyi and Buhle. These ladies are on target with the forming of new savings groups (30 for the year) and needs to focus now on quality training. They are so fired up that they had scheduled training sessions seven days of the week which I had to put an end to.
We visited the crafters group in Inchanga, who are now part of the savings programme. Not everybody was at the savings meeting and I soon discover there was something wrong with the composition of the group. Some ... (524 more chars) |
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April 6, 2007 - My Birthday
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| Written by Rosetta Heunis |
| Yesterday was my birthday! I love the 1st of April, maybe because people react different to it than to other birth dates. It is almost the same reaction when Zulu speaking South Africans hear the name of our organization – Zimele. There is a reaction, a smile, a positive nodding of heads…. I would like to believe they immediately sense our respect and trust in their potential and that it will be them who make the difference in the lives of their communities and their children. This is a photo of the Zamakuhle Savings Group in Inchanga and is one of our successful groups. (When I asked them what Zamakuhle means they said; ‘trying for the best’)
The group has 20 members, (the photo is a living example of ‘African Time’ meaning people will pitch up when ever they chose to) This complicates the program because everyone needs to be present for the counting of money. Each week they select one member to take the money home with her, which is a hu... (224 more chars) |
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April 13, 2007 - Changing Lives Through Our Savings Program
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| Written by Rosetta Heunis |
| I want to tell you more about the change in the lives of extreme poor people on the Savings Program, maybe because keeping them motivated is quite a challenge to us. It can take up to six months before they see results, and then, it is only on survival level. Initially the savings helps them to buy more groceries, so their children might have two meals per day, or they can afford the transport cost to town to apply for a social grant from Government. The question we ask ourselves is: ‘how do we approach these precious children of God while they wait for results so that they don’t lose interest? But, miracles happen daily in Africa! In the Zamakuhle Savings Group ten ladies approach a nearby high school and asked permission to start a vegetable garden next to the school. The main reason for this was to have access to the schools water. This project does need our support in many ways, and hopefully Zimele will soon be in the financial position to assist them.
Another lad... (1389 more chars) |
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September 11, 2007 - Swayimane CLA Launch
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| Written by Rosetta Heunis |
| Name of CLA: Masisizane Group (meaning Good Day)
Date of Launch: 31 August 2007
Number of members: 90 On 31 August 2007 we meet with 16 representatives from 8 Self Help Groups in Swayimane (an area we are working with) to launch a CLA (Cluster Level Assosication). The members present were very excited and participated fully. We started with general introductions from all those present. Within these introductions some members were expressing great desire to be part of the joint work with the other members. This was amazing as Swayimane is a vast area and the 8 Self Help Groups from which the members were drawn are scattered in the area with minimal social connections among them.
The main aim of the meeting was to introduce the members to the CLA concept and each other. The meeting was also a forum for the members to collectively, through participatory methods set preliminary functional guides of the group. There was a sense of freedom among the members; they fully par... (1300 more chars) |
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