Sarah Mophoto and Wilhelmina Batsaalwang with some of the projects they created
Willemina Batsaalwang used to be unemployed but now she can afford to buy clothes for her four children.
She has been part of the Holding Hands project in the Rysmierbult area near Ventersdorp for 10 years. The women earn an income by sewing to order. They make, among other things, bags, placemats and aprons that are sold locally and overseas, says Christi Niesing, the project co-ordinator.
The project is an initiative of the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of Health Sciences. It falls under the banner of the Africa Unit for Interdisciplinary Health Research at the NWU. Holding Hands is one of the projects undertaken by the unit to help families achieve sustainable livelihoods.
Batsaalwang says the project has made a huge difference in her life; in the past she had no work. Niesing says the faculty conducted extensive research on food security among farmworker communities in the Rysmierbult area in 1998. “It was found that women there had few opportunities to earn an income. The Holding Hands project, which got under way in 2002, arose from this research.”
Niesing says the university audits the project’s finances. “These women have on average the literacy level of a grade six pupil. Our objective is that these women will eventually be able to manage the project’s finances themselves. One of them has already been identified to do a course in financial management at the university.”
Niesing says one benefit of this project is a growth in self-esteem in the 38 women. “One woman bought a freezer with the money she had earned through the project. She then bought chickens, which she sold at a profit. Another woman could afford to send her child to an affluent school in Potchefstroom.”
All the upliftment projects arise from a need in a specific community, says Niesing. “We have several meetings with the local community before embarking on a project. It starts off with a life-skills programme where they are taught to manage their finances, because people often do not know how to spend their money when they earn for the first time.”
Holding Hands wish list:
– Scissors
– Material
– Wool
– Sewing machines in good working order
– Ironing boards
– Orders for any type of sewing, from making items to shortening curtains, are welcome.
Contact Christi Niesing on 084 435 0025 or send her an email at [email protected]. Visit flagh.co.za
This article first appeared in Afrikaans in Beeld on October 26 2014. The translation is used here with permission