19th January to 28th February 2022
19th January Meeting with @Eugene Opperman from Child Maintenance South Africa was hugely inspiring. Child Maintenance South Africa together with Felicity An Guest and other passionate activists, are working closely with the NPA to include the non payment of child support included as a fully recognised form of financial abuse.
When this new bill is signed into law ..and it will be soon..defaulters will be able to be prosecuted through the Domestic Violence Act in SA. This is a huge win for gender economic equality. Well done to all and to all of those who fight so passionately to right the wrongs in our society! Up To Me firmly support this drive.
26th January 2022
Shop via www.shopdonation.co.za/uptome and donate for free to our cause!
It’s really simple and serves a dual purpose..supporting a start up and supporting a cause whilst taking NO extra money from YOU, our supporters. There are many suppliers that have signed up with ShopDonation from car rentals to tech and clothing companies..it’s a win, win, win!!
28th January
Computer Donations
THANK YOU! Eric Grant.net WC for the kind donation of a laptop and desktop for the women of Wolwerivier..@Dee Coetzee starts training on the 1st February 2022..
31st January
Maintenance Workshop January 2022. An incredibly informative workshop paving the way to alleviate the plight of the nearly 50% of women in South Africa who do not get the financial support due to them to take care of their kids.
Did you know? Girls and women spend 90% of their earned income on their families, while men spend only 30-40% (UNAC, 2012) Thank you Felicity An Guest and Child Maintenance South Africa @Eugene Opperman for inviting us. We are looking forward to working with you and who are obviously a very committed group from the NPA Deon Ruiters – 2022 may well be the year that sees a much improved distribution of economic empowerment for the women of SA.
1st of February start of our maintenance awareness campaign
Claiming Child Support: Our maintenance courts are not equipped to deal with the large volumes of maintenance requests. This essentially leaves the moms who are normally the primary care givers without income for months and sometimes years while they navigate the system.. BUT YOU CAN HELP!!
Help a mom to organise her finance file in a way that makes her expenses, with proof thereof clear and concise..it is ONE less delay..
Also please spread the word there is a brand new NO TRACE NO PAY agent in town…https://www.traceyourbabydaddy.co.za/ Supported by Oppermans Inc. This is an organisation with heart for sure..@Eugene Opperman along with Felicity An Guest are firebrands in the fight for maintenance for the woman of South Africa!!
1st of February start of computer training classes
What a scorcher of a day in WolweRivier!! We struggled to get access to the community hall but Nikki Pretorius to the rescue.. generously loaning us the use of her space at the Sunshine School. We had to run about 40 m of electrical cable to get powered up but eventually we got underway. The amazing Dee Coetzee generously offered her time. The incredible Eric Grant.net WC provided a laptop and with the help of Lize Testa we have powered up the donated pcs from the Smile Foundation. Together with a printer provided by a wonderful sponsor from The Village group on Facebook and the balance of contributions and equipment sponsored by Staff Training Online we have officially kicked off the official training for 2022.
At the moment the ladies are being taught how to provide simple copying, email, scanning, cv and printing services for their community. There are a total of 7 ladies on the programme. This all with the view to making job applications easier to achieve.
2nd of February PC Training Continued
We can print!!
9th of February ongoing challenges but the learning continued
The Community Hall in Wolwe is without diesel for their generator AGAIN! City of Cape Town this is the second time we arrive and are faced with additional costs to complete the much needed computer training for our beneficiaries! We find it NOT acceptable. The women who are determined to move ahead in 2022 are making plans though and the training was moved to one of the beneficiaries homes. Thank you @Xolelwa for offering up your space. Thank you to the Up To Me onsite team for pushing through. Thank you to Dee Coetzee for your incredible patience and sharing your knowledge under what can only be described as nearly impossible circumstances so far for 2022. YOU all are our heroes!
14th February A new venture is born
Creating Value!
The ladies we are working with in Wolwerivier are embarking on their first joint venture..they have identified the selling of second hand clothes as something they think can do well in their community. This is our deal: Up To Me will help you find your stock and we will “sell” this stock to you at a minimal rate. But BEFORE we do that we need from you:
1. A partnership agreement between the active members in this joint venture. This agreement will determine how your profits are split, what duties are expected from each person, what the process is when someone does not do their bit.
2. We will need you to tell us where you expect to set up shop, why you are setting up in that manner and when, as well as the reasons why.
3. We will need you to tell us how you plan to do your pricing, your quality control your stock loss control and how you will store your inventory safely.
We get to educate through coaching, they get to form cohesive units and support structures, working as a team to a greater goal! And all proceeds we get go back into formal training for the group.
They are SUPER excited and they are having their first meeting today..we have 10 days of coaching left and 10 days to ensure that they have sufficient stock.
15th February
Addressing Food Security
Last week was a great week. We are thinking that this week is going to be even better!! Thank you to GCU ! Mario, your willingness to assist the community of Wolwerivier is incredible thank you! Once a week our community Ambassadors will go to meet Mario and his team to supply a cooked plate of food to the individuals in the community who most need it…how does this help to prevent GBV you ask? How do hand outs empower people? Should we not be doing hand ups?
1. The work to assist and dish for those less fortunate than you is an honour and a privilege..it creates humility, compassion and care..our onsite ambassadors are in the privileged position of being those who can help even they themselves are struggling with a huge shortage of resource.
2. This weekly act of kindness brings to our attention those who may be facing violence in their homes simply because they are now outside the home, this opens the space and opportunity for our ambassadors to reach out to these incredibly vulnerable women and children and to use the support network in place to reach out to them.
3. The actual meal goes a long way to improve the positivity mindset and hope that we all so desperately need.
4. Because our onsite ambassadors will be flying the Up To Me flag along with the GCU flag it means that other women in the community will start seeing what the Up To Me affiliated team are doing and they too will want to start joining our programmes.
5. The strength of a woman supported by a cohesive and like minded team is exponentially magnified and the knock on effect in her personal life as well as in the lives of her sisters, neighbours and friends is very soon felt.
Growing communities..one step at a time..To @Linamandla as the team leader for this project and @Nasiphi as her 2 IC. Thank you! You make us dance with joy! Again to GCU, Mario and Team, Thank you, the grace and ease with which you took on yet another community, makes us humble.
17th Feb Women supporting Women and a meeting for a new partnership
I am still not sure exactly what transpired today, but for sure a helluva lot of fun was had by the Wolwerivier onsite Ambassadors..they were teasing each other and reaching new heights in their peer to peer, self learning classes. Working on typing speed and formatting of Word docs apparently cannot be done without home made cupcakes from their biggest supporters and cheerleaders.. aka Maggie..thank you Awesome Ones..you made me laugh today!! We are gearing up for a great March..more GBV workshops, more skills training, rock painting, business coaching, partnerships with DC Angels and Clever Kids Smart Dogs underway and getting ready to roll ..it’s heating up..
19th February – More Training with the NPA
25th February First Market Day and Report Back!
26th February 100 Women 1 Voice GBV Training
Very informative session on the new GBV legislation and how to “work” the system as every day activists. Thank you 1000 Women 1 Voice ! We love the strong message of collaboration as #TogetherWeCan is NOT just a Hashtag!
That’s it folks..keep an eye out for our next rolling report..