Self-image

Thabsile was a volunteer at the community care point and worked part time as a counsellor at Nazarene Health Centre. Her husband had left her with four rented flats and three children to look after. Before she attended the training she misused the money she got from the flats and would end up approaching her in-laws for help. “After the training I started thinking about what I could do with my life so as to stop the habit of dependency that I had developedÀ. She started saving some of the money she got from rent and bought material for making ‘tidziya’ part of Swazi women’s traditional regalia.

Hanitra is a young dynamic woman who works every day between the capital city of Antananarivo and her council, Tsiafahy, 15 kilometres away. Hanitra is single and is not very talkative. She was motivated by the mayor of her council to join the entrepreneurship training offered by Gender Links (GL) in 2013. Hanitra was happy and saw in the training an opportunity to change her life.

Two years after completing the different training courses the changes are beginning to be noted. Her neighbourhood is intrigued by Hanitra’s change: taking responsibility, making decisions and showing the initiative to develop experience in what she does.

Before the training Matsidiso used to be a dress maker, making school uniforms and track suits and selling plastic packages used to pack coal in Maputo, Mozambique. The slow growth of the economy led to her business’ failure. She ended up selling the uniforms on credit hoping to recover the cash in the long run. She also blames it on bad decision making and not keeping records correctly. She never bothered saving and could not separate the business from her personal needs. Her plastic package sales dropped due to competition which forced her to halt it indefinitely.

Mpofu is a single mother who looks after five children and has been looking after them since birth. Mpofu was impregnated by her partner at a very young age, but her partner did not marry her. However, she stayed with him until they had five children. She feels that she should be called a driver of change due to the nature of her work and how she has changed her life for the better and even affected people around her. She added that when she looks back and remembers where she was before she encountered Gender Links, she believes that her life has changed so much that she deserves to be called a driver of change.

The most memorable experience Mabatlokoa Tsolo has had with Gender Links (GL) was when she shared her past dark personal experience with strangers, being Gender Links. She did so because she was told that the stories would be used by GL alone, but she still did not feel comfortable to share her story. To her surprise, all the women who were there seemed very comfortable and free and were busy writing. Speaking up about the gender based violence she had experienced made her feel vulnerable and unsafe as she only could recall the horrible days she had experienced. Meeting a group of women from different age groups who had comparable experiences made her start appreciating herself. She learned from other women that her harsh experiences do not define what her future will be like.

Mampho Ntho was only a house wife who would just wait for her husband to send her money so that she could take care of the children’s basic needs. When she attended the Gender Links (GL) training she was a person who did not do anything. Ntho first encountered GL when she wrote her “IÀ story. She managed to attend all the three phases of training. During the three phases she was able to learn many things. She learnt new skills and about changing her attitude; that is when she decided to start a business because she had ideas as well as a business plan. People in her village told her that it would not be possible for her to have a successful business because she did not have any money, but she knew there was absolutely nothing that could stop her from becoming what she wanted to be.

Mamy Tiana Yvonne is living in the urban council of Mahajanga, which has been part of the Gender Links (GL) centre of excellence process since 2013. She is one of the beneficiaries of the entrepreneurship project led by GL in 2014.

Mamy lives alone her with two children; she takes the role of mother and father at the same time. Being a survivor of violence for years, she decided to break up with her husband one year ago. Currently, she affirms that she is satisfied with her life as she has managed to be financially independent, thanks to GL’s training. Mamy came to know GL in 2014. The paralegals at the counseling centre in her council encouraged her to participate in the training, which she attended rigorously.

She is a young Mosotho woman who survives by selling fruit and vegetables at the taxi rank. She has been doing that for a very long time now and this is how she manages to pay her children’s school fees. Cheche was married to a man that she did not know at all, she saw him for the first time when he was already her husband. They lived together without any problems for almost two years as she learnt to love and appreciate him as her partner. He was working on the mines in South Africa meaning that most of the time he was not around and Cheche was the one looking after their children, ensuring that they could go to school. Her husband stopped coming home and Cheche was struggling with the children and everybody knew that it was really hard for her and that is why her councillor contacted her first when he heard about the Gender Links (GL) entrepreneurship programme.

Verosoa Patricia is member of the committee for the fight against violence in the urban council of Manjakandriana, part of the Centre of Excellence (COE) process since 2010. The urban council of Manjakandriana is located 50 kilometres from the capital and has an engaged woman as a mayor. Thanks to the mayor’s leadership, the council is implementing several projects for the improvement of women’s status, especially in the domain of health, women’s access to land and finance, and other gender related activities.

Celestine is a 45 year-old woman, married with two children. Her business focusses on selling vegetables and fish in the local market. Coming from a modest family, Celestine has been used to a precarious way of living since her childhood.

During her married life she endured all kinds of violence inflicted on her by her husband. Overwhelmed by the harshness of her daily life, she decided to find an activity that would improve her income. It was during that time that she encountered Ms Rasoaminiry, counsellor of the council. Ms Rasoamaniry encouraged her to participate in the training offered by GL.

Marcelline Razafindrasoa got to know Gender Links (GL) in 2014 through the listening and counselling centre of Antananarivo. Being one of the beneficiaries of the entrepreneurship project, she has followed all the phases of the training, namely on gender issues, drafting a business plan, the management of resources and self-confidence.

Marcelline has experienced violence for years. Her husband has not ceased to mistreat her since the birth of her first child: expulsion, drunkenness and insults, which always ended in physical violence. At that time, she had just enough money to buy food; her child was just three months old. Her neighbours helped her during that painful period. Supported by her friends, she had the idea of selling cooked cassava, which allowed her to slightly improve her income.

Nonhlanhla Mpanza was physically abused on an almost a daily basis, be it broad daylight, in front of her children and at times in front of neighbours who watched without coming to her rescue. She had reported her problems to the chief’s residence and they could not assist, instead the beatings escalated as her husband punished her for reporting him. She reported the matter to her husband’s church where he is one of the most holy of congregants, but behold, the beatings never stopped. In pain and dismay, feeling empty, hopeless and bleeding after yet another brutal beating she approached the police, although not to arrest the father of her children, but running into the night just to keep away from him until he calmed down.