Empowerment

Sithokozile Moyo suffered abuse that negatively affected her life. Her life was at a stand-still as she was always indoors eating her heart out over the bad things that took place in her life. The situation reduced her to a pauper as she was not being productive and fate was set to continue reigning in her life. As she was suffering in silence, her situation captured the attention of Bulawayo City Council and she was enrolled in the Gender Links (GL) entrepreneurship programme. When she attended the “IÀ story collection workshop she managed to open up for the first time through writing down her own story.

Nomcebo Dlamini describes herself as a business woman who dresses plus-sized women for a living and has recently ventured into making household embroidered items. In 2014 Dlamini had the opportunity to present her business plan at the Swaziland Gender Protocol Summit and later at the Regional Summit in April and May 2014. When she joined Gender Links entrepreneurship programme in 2013, Dlamini had started the plus-size clothing tailoring and she has since partnered with other women in working on household embroidered items, table clothes, place mats and the like.

Being a leader is a very challenging situation, is a situation which a person need to be patient when dealing with people. At this moment the post I held is loan officer at Ubhumwe saccos which is in Temeke district. My routine work is to deal with loan application forms by verifying applicants serving accounts, to set rates of returns each month according to the loan taken and time period the loan will last without violating rules and regulations of the SACCOS.

It is strictly prohibited for a member to ignore time frame allocated for a certain loan to expire; all loans should be recovered within time earmarked. As a loan officer it is my duty to request monthly bank statement report from SACCOS accountant so as to check individual returns to compare with his /her instalment rates sated monthly.

If it happens that there is no return of anybody, I have a mandate to remind all debtors to adhere to the laid down rules and regulations of the organisation.

Experience shows that most of the time these debtors fail to understand that, it is their obligation to fulfil the rules and regulations, as per their signed contracts. This is a big challenge to me, as it hinders my capability in fulfilling my duties accordingly.

Despite of the challenges I am facing, I am not losing hope. This is because Ubhumwe consists of women and men members. Being a woman leader to such a challenging organisation I have to prove that I can. To me this is a qualification of a DRIVER OF CHANGE.

When I worked with Tanzania Youth Vision Association (TYVA), I led the organisation although I was only 23 years old. As a young woman I was elected to lead a vibrant youth organisation with branches all over Tanzania. Due to the activities of its activists, organisations that were looking for a favour from government avoided us. Once when we marked AIDS day, a partner pulled out at the last minute and I encouraged my committee to continue with the event without the partner by cutting unnecessary costs. The event went well and even the team was surprised as they had been disappointed and heartbroken because we needed money for some of our operations.

Justice Masekane heads the human resources department and is also the station manager’s personal assistant (PA). When asked about his job he smiled and said I am a qualified office manager and I am not ashamed of my qualifications. “Most men take offence at the kind of job that I do and funny enough I don’t,À adds Masekane. Justice attended his first Gender Links (GL) workshop in Venda as part of the stations in-house training.

“Watching the SADC Gender Protocol DVD was the best experience I have had with Gender Links (GL). I had no idea what the SADC Protocol was, and now I knowÀ explains Tshepi. Tshepiso works for Sekhukhune community radio and unlike many women who are subjected to glass ceiling practices, she has been appointed a news editor and takes her job seriously.

Esther Musindo was born in 1972 as the only female child in a family that adored male children. She grew up in a family where there was no peace because her mother was despised for the “offenceÀ of failing to give birth to male children.

Ms. Bu says the station has not been training staff members and she believes training is necessary. To her the first workshop was not just ordinary, but a workshop she believes was long overdue. “Our station is headed by men, men everywhere! So when Gender Links came and spoke about equality I was very excited.À

Ms. Lakshmi Gunessee belonged to an elite family, but married a man from a rural area. Her lifestyle completely changed as she had to live in a home with limited resources and only the basic necessities. However, she approached this change positively and observed that several women in her village were illiterate. They were subject to domestic violence and did not have a bright future. Ms. Gunessee wanted to work for women’s empowerment and she started an organisation to sharpen the skills of the women in agricultural processes such as harvesting crops and packaging food.

I first met Gender Links at a workshop some time in 2006 or 2007 and since then my perspective has changed drastically, even though in my own way I have been fighting the disparity between boys and girls since early childhood.

I am a woman who experienced gender based violence (GBV) for more than 10 years because I could not give my then husband a child. As a result, he resorted to treating me like an animal.

My husband abused me emotionally and it affected my well-being. He was working in South Africa and he rarely sent money home and when he did he would send as little as R 500. I struggled to survive with my child since my eldest child had also left for South Africa. It was a stressful situation for me because I was still married to my husband and I depended on him for survival.