Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Shared order for IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare)



100 000 elephant brooches in 4 weeks! – this huge order was secured by another local NGO, Learn to Earn, and they asked other projects to help.  We discovered that we have some thriving entrepreneurs among our mothers – keen to take advantage of this opportunity to earn extra money.  


Sylvia Rasimeni , Monelwa Canda completed  over 3000 brooches between them  in addition to their normal weekly beadwork. In total only 14 mothers participated and our contribution was 6800 brooches.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Help for strained eyes

An exciting partnership with a local optician, Quentin Baker of Kenilworth Spec Savers, has enabled many of our mothers to acquire non-prescription readers. 


By the smiles on their faces we know that this has made a huge difference to the ease of doing intricate beadwork in what are often poor lighting conditions in their homes.  The elementary reading tests carried out by Lucia Matshoba, Kidzpositive mother and employee, identified some mothers who had more complicated problems.




As a result of this Philisa Mtwecu and Nosipho Ntuli were taken to the optician for tests and fitted with prescription glasses. They were delighted! 



THANK YOU Quentin and 
Kenilworth Spec Savers!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Mothers share their stories ...

After reading a few archive issues of the annual Kidzpositive newsletter I found a number of really wonderful articles that I thought would be great to share with our newer supporters.  One in particular illustrates the difficulties that mothers face everyday and how The Positive Beadwork Project is helping them work towards a more promising future.

Mothers share their Stories - Nomfuneko Salaze & Kate Grey
2006

In 2002 Nqobani Mkhwanazi,  then Head Girl of St Cyprian’s School, Cape Town,  facilitated  the initial donation of R4000 to fund the Positive Beadwork  Project. On her return visit three years later, she was quite ‘bowled over’ as to how things had developed.  For the mothers it was a wonderful  chance for them to share their stories with her.

Ntombumozi  told of when she disclosed her status to her family. She was staying at her sister’s place and they chased her out of the house. She went to live with her aunt but she never felt accepted there. She then decided to stay on the streets. When she joined the beadwork  project she realised that she could live her life by doing beadwork and earning something.  With the money from beadwork she managed to build her own shack. She feels that the project has given her her life back.

Queenie said that the fact that they meet every week has strengthened  them. The project has created a platform where they can share their challenges,  frustrations and they support one another as sisters.

Thembi told how she is always willing to do extra samples, and said that she enjoys doing the beadwork so much that she even does it when she cannot sleep at night. When she joined the project she realised that she can earn an income to feed her children.

Thuli was so ill last year that we feared the worst. She told Nqobani how she recovered  and then had to return home to the Eastern Cape later that year to bury her younger sister who died of AIDS. In spite of her difficulties, she believes that there is still much to celebrate in life – the fact that her son is fit and healthy on his ARV treatment and her joy in being able to give him a birthday party with some of the money she had made from selling beadwork.

Patience said that she was fired at work because she often used to be away as she was always sick. When she joined the project she realised that she can earn an income to feed her children.




Nqobani continues as an Aids Activist. Midst her studies and A IDs work with Pieter Dirk Uys, she went to Australia in July (2006) at the request of Ballarat Grammar School and embarked on an intensive
2 week tour speaking about the pandemic and the Beadwork Project. As a result our orders from Australia continue to increase and recently included 5 000 flags of 33 different countries to be sold at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March 2006.