Elsie Mamphoke, a tall, middle-aged woman with a mischievous glint in her eye, breaks into a huge smile as she holds up three fingers. “Yes, I tell my children to bring me three condoms at night, even if I’m not planning to use them. I want them to know I am having sex with my husband, I want them to think we are using a condom, that I am planning to have three rounds and that I will be using a condom every time.”
This level of frankness is almost unheard of in this neck of the woods, but clearly not out of place for the women of Gamatodi, a small rural village about 15 minutes outside of Burgersfort, on the Mpumalanga/ Limpopo border.
For the past three years the women of Gamatodi and other parts of Limpopo have been part of an innovative pilot project known as the Image (Intervention and Micro-finance for Aids and Gender Equity) study.
The project seeks to improve household welfare, change attitudes and behaviour, and prevent new HIV infections and gender-based violence.
An integral part of this project is an innovative micro-financing programme that allows women to create their own businesses and become financially independent.
According to Dr Julia Kim, founder member of the Image project, micro-finance is found to be an empowering experience for women.
“In many of these places it’s the first chance that women have had to begin earning their own money and to bring money into the household. That in turn can change their relationships with their husbands, the way they’re perceived by their families and community,” she says.
The Image research shows that fear of violence limits women’s ability to make safer sexual decisions.
Women in the poorest households are identified and approached by staff from the Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF), which is a partner in the project. The women, preferably neighbours, organise themselves into groups of five, with each member of the group standing surety for other group members’ loans.
Initial loan amounts are around R500. Repayment rates are high (99%) and, when all loans are repaid by the group of five, a new loan cycle may begin. Loan sizes generally increase in line with business value, with some women now accessing loans of up to R1 000.
At present there are four loan centres in the Image study sample with about 40 loan recipients in each group.
Once a fortnight, a “centre” of 40 borrowers meets to make repayments, discuss business problems and apply for new loans. The SEF programme currently benefits 19 000 women and aims to benefit 40 000 women over the next five years.
Micro-finance programmes using a system of group-based lending were originally developed in India and Bangladesh, but were not developed as a health intervention.
Sitting in the shade at the local chief’s home, Ophelia Qobongwana, a tall, attractive woman with striking features, points towards the heavens when she talks about the difference the programme has made in her life.
“SEF came into my life like a flying machine. I am no longer going backwards, only forwards,” says the single mother of two.
“I used to be very poor. I cleaned other people’s houses, I was forced to beg for food. Now I feel like a madam, I can pay my children’s school fees and at night I sleep in the light where before I watched the light in the other houses,” says Qobongwana, who now sells second-hand clothing and vegetables.
Listening to Qobongwana’s account, Mamphoke nods in agreement. “SEF is my husband. Even if I wanted to leave it one day, I can’t. It’s what keeps us alive,” says Mamphoke, who has lived in Gamatodi since 1965 and who sells chickens and vegetables, supports her husband’s welding business and cares for her three children.
Both women have become educators in their communities, focusing on rape, HIV prevention, domestic violence and other issues relevant to the community.
The SEF meetings are initially used as a forum to introduce the “Sister for Life” programme, the HIV/Aids and gender education project. The women participate in an education project in which they examine gender roles, cultural beliefs, sexuality and relationships.
One of the facilitators, Lulu Ndhlovu, grew up in the area. Much younger than most of the women, Ndhlovu is not afraid to discuss traditional taboos. During a fortnightly meeting, a woman asks Ndhlovu whether it is not improper for women to wear pants and whether these women are to blame for the fact that men rape them.
Ndhlovu responds: “You say it is wrong to wear pants and look sexy, even if you are decent. But I disagree when you say you are raped because you are wearing pants. Men rape even old women and babies. We give the men power if we blame the women,” she explains.
The group grows excited and animated when culture is discussed or debated, but Ndhlovu points out: “As we progress they will all be quiet because then we are talking about them, we’re talking about their daughters, the people that they love and all of a sudden it’s not funny anymore and they see people who are dying of Aids and its not a pretty sight. The thought of them actually contributing to that person having to go through so much, because of gender issues because of culture and everything else … it’s not funny anymore.”
The programme also supports the women in developing solutions that are relevant to their own communities.
Ndhlovu recalls a quiet woman who sculpted her own unique response while educating her community.
“She told me that she had been workshopping with young people but that she had a real dilemma when they asked her how they had to use a condom. She realised that she had no willing demo models so she made her own from wood and pulled two out her bag. I almost collapsed,” shrieks Ndhlovu.
“She still added that she knew it was small, but that it was good enough.” — Health-e News Service
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