How do you meet the women you work with?
I meet the women all over. A lot have been through the women I am working with, who will refer others. A lot of people inquire and come to me. Unemployment is an unfortunate epidemic, but you can only make an impact on those who want it.
What do they contribute to your life?
I have learnt more from working with these ladies then they have from me, although I’d like to think it’s mutual, often one takes things for granted, such as the things that have been ingrained in us all our lives. Expectations in projects like these will always be negated, as there is no way of telling what the outcomes might be, or where the opportunities might lie. I am so grateful to these women to have allowed me into their world and to have the opportunity to work with different women living in South Africa. They teach me not only about different cultures and humanity but through working with them, I learn so much more about myself.
What do you think you contribute to their lives?
I suppose it would be obvious to say that I am helping them become sustainable, but I would like to think, more importantly, that I am imparting some of my learning’s from the world of supplying a customer as well as some element of human growth. I hope that through empathy I teach them that we can have collaborative relationships, which we do, and do not have preconceptions about us working together. I try to treat the ladies as partners in our relationship, encouraging ideas, a sense of autonomy and try to impart advice where I can. At the moment I am trying to get something together for numeracy and financial training, which is something that has come up which one takes for granted.
