The life of the use to be vulnerable widows at Inanda will never be the same as the head of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Provincial Treasury; Mr Simiso Magagula donated three state of the art industrial sewing machines to Hluma Women’s Support Group to enhance their production.
Not long ago women from disadvantaged backgrounds at Inanda, in Nhlungwane area were lingering around with nothing to do to fight the poverty ills. When Sukuma Sakhe initiative was introduced in the area the dream of breaking the chains of poverty was realised.
Working closely with Operation Sukuma Sakhe, they started the ground breaking group called Hluma Women’s Support with 45 active members who are widows. After looking at the socio-economic needs in the area they realised that there is a high shortage of labour skills in the area. They then started a group of women which specialises in doing beadwork, knitting, patch work on duvet covers, shoe making and gardening.
“As part of the women’s month celebration my office wanted to encourage women’s groups in communities that are contributing towards fighting poverty and social ills. We then requested for submission of community groups profiles from around Durban. This group was identified as the best in the received profiles. We regard this donation as an investment for this group to continue with its work” said Magagula
In short time the impact of the group has been tremendous, this includes assisting chronic, old aged persons and orphans by providing food parcels where and when necessary. They also ensure that orphans in need of social work assistance do not have to pay transport fees to and from the department to seek assistance but they arrange with the social workers to come and assist them in a central place in the area. They also ensure that their produce from the gardening assist the poor for free.
In a bid of tackling social ills head on in the area these women also assist by empowering the youth in different skills this includes awareness programmes during school holidays.
Speaking on behalf of this Hluma Womans Support Group, Chairwoman Mrs Patience Jikazi said “we always prayed for at least two industrial and flat machines to speed up production. Now our prayers are answered as we are receiving three of these machines and five tables. We do not have words that can express our appreciation to Provincial Treasury”.
“However we still have some challenges as a women group which includes shortage of market to sell our product. We also need containers to do our daily work and to safe keep our resources. We encourage women to do it for themselves. Any form of assistance will be appreciated for ensuring a better life for all,” said Jikazi.
For more information:
Ntokozo Maphisa
Cell: 082 773 0937
