Support Women Learn a New Skill in South Africa

Dear Supporters, 

As 2018 comes to an end, we would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you for all of your support and donations throughout the year.

Your generosity and assistance has meant that we have been able to support women and girls from disadvantaged communities in South Africa to develop new skills and make positive changes for both themselves and their families.

So what has your support helped us to achieve in 2018?

Here are some of the highlights from January – November 2018:

Delivered 81 Sewing workshops! 

In these workshops women complete a basic sewing course using machines purchased through the Trust's supporters. The ladies can then create additional income through making items for sale, completing alterations and even setting up their own businesses. 

Delievered 2,395 computer lessons! 

Women complete a course with our volunteers that teachers basic computer skills from creating and saving files, to setting up accounts and writing CV's. Having these skills is really invaluable in helping women secure jobs where such skills are needed. All of these computers have been donated or purchased through the Trust's support, and of course, yours. 

Delivered 84 girls empowerment workshops! 

These workshops are delivered to girls aged 10-14 and cover important topics such as healthy relationships, puberty, periods, safe sex mental well being and substance misuse. It's great to see not only how much the girls learn, but also how much their confidence grows. 

Thank you, on behalf of every single life you have had an impact on, no matter how big or small, Thank you. As we say in Xhosa, ENKOSI! 

GVI Gordons Bay, Womans Empowerment 

Dear Supporters,

The last 3 months have seen great growth and success in our Women’s Empowerment projects. Thanks to our generous supporters, we have been able to support record numbers of women to complete our computer courses and work towards employment. We have also seen great success from our sewing course, with one of the graduates now running her own business!

Over the last 3 months we have been able to deliver a record number of computer lessons to women in the local community. In July alone, we delivered 350 computer lessons! This has enabled many women to successfully complete their computer certification and it has been fantastic to hear that several women have been able obtain employment and internships with the help of this qualification; including one lady who is now employed as a computer administrator!

This high number of lessons would not have been deliverable without our supporters who have generously donated two laptops and a further laptop which has been purchased through the GVI Trust. Having a higher quantity of laptops means that we can reach greater numbers of women and also enables the women to have access to laptops where they can practice their skills, which is so vital.

We have also been supporting local women with creating resumes, email addresses and looking for jobs online This has been very popular, however, as there is currently no access to WIFI in the community centre, we are limited to the number of people we can support using mobile data. Going forward we would love to have greater access to internet, as this will ultimately help local women apply for jobs that they would otherwise not have access to. Due to the high levels of unemployment in South Africa, this is what many of the women wish to focus towards so that they are able to support themselves and their family. We are hoping that further fundraising will be able to contribute to providing greater access to internet and enable many more women to use the internet to gain skills and employment.

As well as our computer courses, we continue to run sewing workshops and Girl’s Empowerment classes with local primary school girls.

Our sewing course continues to be very popular and we currently have a long waiting list of women who would like to join the course. Currently, we have 3 sewing machines and are therefore are only able to teach the six week course to 3 women at a time. Going forward we would love to be able purchase a further sewing machine to enable more women to join the course.

The women that have completed the sewing course are regularly using the machines to complete alterations and repairs to earn additional income, which is fantastic. Many of the women are interested in setting up their own businesses and we are very proud to say that one of our sewing course graduates, Cacilda, is now successfully running her own small scale business! Cacilda is a great inspiration to the community; she has been coming to use the sewing machines daily and working hard to develop her skills and is now successfully making and selling bags and event decorations. This additional income is now helping to support her daughter in further education. Cacilda would like to pass on her huge appreciation and thanks to the supporters who helped to purchase the sewing machines. Without the use of the sewing machine, Cacilda would not have been able to learn a new skill or run her current business. This is a great example how, given a little support, a determined individual can make their dreams a reality.

Other Highlights:

We have recently been delivering first aid courses to women in the community. This is a great certification for the women to add to their resume and is a very important skill to have, as access to immediate medical care can often be very difficult for some communities.

We would like to say a huge thank you to our supporters, who thanks to their donations, have helped women in the local community learn new skills and make incredible changes in their lives. The women we support face many challenges and are living in very difficult circumstances. They are hard working and driven, but unfortunately do not always have access to the support and resources needed to achieve their goals. Thanks to your support, they are able to use computers and sewing machines to
gain new skills and work towards to employment and setting up their own businesses. Thank you!

Going forward we would love to purchase a further sewing machine to enable more women to learn to sew and set up their own businesses. We would also like to be able to provide the women with greater access to the internet in order to develop further internet skills and search for employment online.