Social Entrepreneurship in South Africa

This friday started with another great lecture by Varkey George about emotional intelligence for social entrepreneurs. We learned how we can use emotional intelligence to be successful in our everyday life and at the workplace. He called our attention to the influence of emotions especially for the future. After that the groups went on with their work. Dr. Kathrin Bischoff supported the teams with her methodical expertise and answered questions. Early Childhood Development Saskia, Johanna, Melina and Lucie supporting the Early Childhood Development programme at Etafeni. It provides high quality and holistic education to almost 90 children between two and six years old. As it is targeting children affected by HIV/AIDS, it doesn’t only offer high quality education to build a path for brighter futures, it also provides overall care. The high quality education can be ensured due to small learning groups of 20-25 children per class. Etafeni provides well maintained and spaciou...

This morning started with another lecture by Varkey George. In order to get a deeper understanding of what he teaches, the Kusasalethu Group was invited to present more about their social enterprise. Kusasalethu is a Xhosa word that means "Our Tomorrow". Xhosa is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa. The founders Peace Boza and Bongani Makeleni were born in the township "Khayelitsha" and after having studied and found jobs, they want to give back to the community through several projects.  One of the projects is  Bag of Hope .   It is for children in primary schools, who are facing many life challenges such as drugs, gang violence and poverty. Often school is the only place where they can escape and focus their minds and energy on something positive. Education is of fundamental importance when it comes to uplifting them to build better lives for themselves, especially at this young age. But often they do not even have a bag to carry their school b...

On Wednesday, the day started with a lecture by Prof. Jacqueline Goldin of the University of Western Cape. She made us aware of the interregional issues water management faces and that water is not only owned by one country. That is why it is important that the countries work together in cooperations to solve the problems we will face in the future due to water. This may be too much rain (such as monsuns or tsunamis) or too little (such as droughts). Fit for Life, Fit for Work The Group of Jonathan, Kevin, Julia and Linda is working for the "Fit for Life, Fit for Work" program.  One of the Etafeni's strategies to prevent the high rate of HIV infection amongst young people in Nyanga, is to engage unemployed youth or school drop-outs who have potential in intense work on themselves, help them to find employment and continue support for them for a twelve-month period. The Life/Coping Skills course involves six weeks of personal development, including sel...

Today's lecture by Barbara Miller, a former development manager at Etafeni, gave us valuable insights about her experiences in working for a NPO. She told us a lot about the South African culture and society as well as how the conditions for the people in Nyanga are. Furthermore, we discussed dilemmas that NPOs are facing and we were looking for solutions. Today, the team I want to present to you is the "Health Project Team"  On the photo (from the left to the right) Viviane, Anna,  Anthea (the Project Manager), Aileen and Lina The project "Mobile Testing Unit" is part of the health program and focuses on the health care of Nyanga residents. It is managed by Anthea Brooks, the head nurse and the project manager of the group. She describes the project as followed: "I am responsible for the health project at Etafeni: for basic medical care, diagnostic testing, education and family planning. I look after the children on site and most importan...

The second week started with a day at Etafeni again. We attended again a very interesting lecture by Varkey George about challenges of the world and the role of the public and the private sector. But the other thing we learned was that the South African winter is very cold and because there is no heater in the lecture room, we were all freezing. That is why we decided to buy a heater and to donate them to Etafeni at the end of our stay. Varkey George: "The most important thing is to create thinkers for democracy." This week I want to present every day another of the five student projects to you: Women Income Generation Project In the photo above you can see (from the left to right side) Karina, Mother Teresa Lumani - the project manger, Theresa, Reihan and Niklas working together. The Women Income Generation Project is one of Etafenis oldest projects. The project runs since 2002. This project aims to provide the HIV+ women with more possibilities for thei...

On Sunday a really special trip was planned. We left the hostel at 9 am this morning to visit the western cape. We stopped at some asthonishing viewpoints and visited Mineral World Simonstown. The next stop was Boulders Beach, the so called penguin beach, next to Simon’s Town. We could observe the african penguins swimming, breeding and eating. The weather changed really fast, so that we experienced sunshine, rain and even some haile. Later on we visited Cape Point, where we could climb the hill to the lighthouse and watched massive waves and a beautiful rainbow. Our way up was really stormy and even some cheeky baboons crossed our way. Cape of good hope was our last stop of the day. Again we were impressed by massive waves and beautiful cliffs. Saskia: "Today was an amazing day. We took the busses and drove to Boulders Beach. The Penguins were super sweet and there were hundreds of them - just a few meters away from us. Afterwards we...

On Saturday we visited the St. Luke’s Hospice for an interesting workshop by Christoff Oosthuizen about how to conduct an interview. Different aspects about interviewing were presented and then tested during interviews with social entrepreneurs. All of us earned new insights. We are very thankful for the opportunity to learn from an experienced coach and to meet inspiring social entrepreneurs from South Africa. Furthermore we supported Peace Boza, one of the social entrepreneurs, with his project #ibuypads and gave him all the pads we brought from Germany as donations. Since pads are extremely expensive here, he collects pads and gives them to girls to ensure that they can attend school while being on their period. In the afternoon most of the group took a trip to Stellenbosch. The city has about 20,000 inhabitants and is home to an university and several winerys. That's why we attended two wine tastings and learned a lot about the local wine farms. In the evening we went...

Today Varkey shared his valuable knowledge about development theories. There are many different theories, all with a different understanding about the world. Because of the shining sun Varkey hold the lecture outside.  Varkey  Varkey: "I get enthusiastic in creating global citizens. When helping young peoeple becoming a global citizen. When breaking out of narrow thought processes, that our society and educational systems have channeled us into. It is a pleasure working with 24 Students who are willing to break out of the mould." The lunch was delicious as always. We are very happy that the nice kitchen team is preparing a rich and tasty meal for us every day.  Lunch break at Etafeni In the afternoon the project groups continued their work. Project Work in the afternoon After a productive day at Etafeni most of the students joined another hike: the Lion's Head. Lion's Head is a mountain between Table Mountain and Signal Hill. It ...