Productive resources

One of the most memorable experiences that I have had with Gender Links was our first meeting where all of the survivors told their own stories and I told my story to others who were just like me. We all learned that we are not alone and that other people understand us. I felt free and all of us cried. It was a defining moment for me.

I first met with Gender Links when I attended the entrepreneurship programme and I remember well the first day I went on the course. I was going through a major depression. My depression comes in sequels and that day I went to class empty-headed knowing clearly that I would not be able to assimilate anything. But as Anushka started to explain, I started to feel as though everything was beginning to feel right. It felt as if the clouds of doubt were starting to move away and allowing me to see clearly. I started to feel interested and I started paying more attention to what she was saying. I truly felt a wave of change coming my way.

Marie Josee gained organisational skills and learnt how to manage money and create a profit when she attended Gender Links workshops and training sessions.

I have not yet started my business, but I have it in mind and intend to start it very soon. I am in fact studying and taking courses in child care. As I plan to open a kids’ club once I have finished studying, I know that I will start my business with a solid foundation. Before undertaking the Gender Links courses, I used to work in a hotel. I was appointed as a hostess in the restaurant and then became a hostess at the mini club and finally supervisor at the same club. I worked everywhere, and was not afraid to take up any job. In 2012, I was fired by the hotel management. In fact it motivated me to pursue the career I had always wanted. I have worked with children and love to be with them.

Oozing with confidence, a young female police officer stood up before a room full of co-competitors and gender activists, to present her project. Neatly dressed and very petite in my […]

My name is Makananelo Rapuleng from Qacha’s Nek, one of the mountainous districts of Lesotho. It is very small but has scattered rural villages and the rate of gender based violence (GBV) is very high and most of the cases in the villages are not reported because women are so dependent on men and they cannot imagine how life would be without their men. The very frustrating thing about the district is that most people, if not the majority of them, are illiterate and they are very keen on culture and therefore it is very difficult for them to adapt to new things.

Claire raised her six children alone after she had been a victim of intimate partner violence for years. After she worked with Gender Links (GL), her life really changed. She gained theoretical knowledge and practical experience she had never thought she would ever have. The concept of gender is one of the things she learnt. Previously, she believed that when we talk about gender we refer to women, while gender is ultimately a concept related to the social construction, women are perceived as weak and passive and are associated with the domestic and private world, while men are seen as strong and enterprising in the public world.

Edwina Kapfudza recalls the day she met her ward councillor and how she was introduced to Gender Links (GL). This took place at a time when she least expected any help from anyone with regard to her experience of gender based violence (GBV). Prior to the introductions, the council held a meeting with the identified survivors of GBV. The idea was to know more about the women’s experiences of GBV before referring them to GL.

We started the entrepreneurship training with the “IÀ story workshops. It was very painful when people were sharing their stories and I could feel that my story was not as bad. The abuse that some went through was very sad, but at the end we were comforted and encouraged to heal. Talking about it made one feel better as did writing it down, as a way of telling others that they are not alone.

I am a handicapped woman and the mother of two children. I suffered from a partial body paralysis after the birth of my daughter 13 years ago and with time my condition deteriorated and I became completely bed ridden. Before the birth of my daughter I used to work in a hotel and helped my family, but after my illness I lost the job. I lost everything. I accepted loneliness as part of my fate. I truly ended up believing that there was no future for handicapped people. However, my good friend Priscilla Bignoux stood by me. She helped me to start going out and mingling with people again. It was only then that I started to see the bright side of life. I started smiling once again.

Mateboho Lefuma started her business selling clothes three years ago. She is a young Mosotho woman aged 30 years and stays in Mantsonyane in the Thaba-Tseka district. When Lefuma started she was selling a small number of clothes to just a few local people because she did not have enough money to buy lots of stock. But after encountering Gender Links (GL) through the entrepreneurship programme she increased the stock because now she had a good market. She mentioned that GL was giving them transport reimbursement and she would just walk three hours from her home to the council for the whole week so that she could save that money and that helped her so much because she was able to increase her stock. The profits she made motivated her to venture into cross border trading. She is now selling her clothes in South Africa and Botswana.

Annah Nezirayi encountered Gender Links (GL) in 2013 through Manyame Rural District Council. When the then Gender Focal Person (GFP), Tariro Chimbindi, introduced her to GL she thought that the programme was a time consuming event and nothing meaningful would come of it. However, the first session of the programme changed her mind and she started appreciating the importance of the programme in her life and the lives of other participants. Before she encountered GL she was a mere vendor, but the programme turned her into a real business woman. Currently, she is operating a viable business and she gives credit to the entrepreneurship programme.