SIBAMA NKAZIBINI BONGI
Some month ago I wrote about the Number One Ladies Knitting Agency in the Eastern Cape that was knitting beanies as promo’s at this year’s Rally to Read event. This small task created much needed income for the ladies involved. The beanies are beautiful and so much better than the mass produced stuff we as a rule use as marketing material. With the last consignment of beanies I received a very sweet thank you message;
“The Number One Ladies Knitting Club asked me to convey their gratitude for the help that you have given to them. The money they received has been of great help to them and their families. It has gone a long way to alleviate poverty in their households, and lasting friendships have been born from the initiative. So SIBAMBA NGAZIBINI” (Thank You)
Derek Potgieter, a consultant READ uses from time to time, recently visited Kwenzekile where the Knitting Agency is. I have adapted his report and used his photographs for this blog post
“About 20 km to the north of Mthatha (formerly Umtata) in the Eastern Cape, close to the national road in is the tiny rural village of Kwenzekile. Most travellers speeding by would not know of its existence.
This is where Bongi Ndakisa grew up and attended school. I found her home a few hundred meters off the tarred road.
On the edge of the family’s property is her newly completed Community Centre. This is the fulfillment of a dream - to provide hope and opportunities for her people.
Bongi originally left Kwenzekile as there were no job opportunities and for a number of years worked for READ, a large South African literacy NGO in Johannesburg. She started off in a junior administration job acquiring computer skills and eventually progressing to the NGO’s materials development department where she did desk-topping on an Apple. She shared her knowledge with others in READ training basic computer skills to casual workers and cleaners which in turn gave some of them additional skills to find better job opportunities.
At the end of 2010 Bongi decided that she would rather work in the community she grew up in and resigned from READ. Most of the Eastern Cape is gripped by poverty and unemployment and her vision is to open a new world for Kwenzekile through reading, computer literacy, job-creation, health, and sports. She managed to build a small community center, and with help from her sister, bought three laptop computers and two overhead projectors. Two additional computers were donated by former READ colleagues. The Kwenzekile Community Development Centre presently boasts 12 pupils of different ages and backgrounds.
She has embarked on a project with the local school to establish a community library which can also serve other schools in the area. They have started with an old classroom and an enthusiastic band of helpers. Used books and second hand shelving have been found and the plan is to make internet facilities available at the library. . A consignment of new books from READ Educational Trust arrived on the day that I visited the school.
Contrary to what we are used to hearing about schools and teachers in rural areas, this school and the teachers have hope and display a strong commitment to the development of the library facility. They “own” the project, value what is happening and are proud to be associated with it.
Bongi has proved that if one has the will, one can achieve whatever the mind can conceive. She has a dream of what this school can do not only for its learners, but bringing change into the lives of everyone in the community.”
I’m supporting Bongi and the Kwenzekile Community Development Centre in all they do and if you have any knitting that needs to be done, contact me and I’ll put you in touch with the Number One Ladies Knitting Agency.
Bongi deserves a special mention in this gallery of visionaries, maniacs and wide-eyed dreamers