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A Caring COMMUNITY
LOVE TO GIVE NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2021
2021

Love to Give’s community response
thus far in this Covid-19 year :

Number of Family Food parcels handed out : 800

Number of School children receiving a daily meal from Monday 15th February : 1500

Number of new CVs written : 95

Number of individual CVs updated and photocopied: 311

Number of Small businesses being supported : 35

Number of people being trained on short courses : 90

People have been asking us what impact Covid-19 has had on our work, on the community of Kayamandi and what hopes and plans we have for this year.
COVID-19 IMPACT ON LOVE TO GIVE
  • The biggest impact on our work in Kayamandi is that the need in the community is exponentially greater. That puts pressure on all of our systems.
  • Our staff are dealing with hundreds of people weekly so the chances of becoming infected themselves is increased. There is concern around this and about who else one might then infect.
  • There are some things that we just can’t do completely safely and so some programmes and courses have been suspended or can only be offered to fewer people.
  • The number of people who have lost jobs is greater.
  • Everyone is being affected by loss of friends and family members or fear for more vulnerable family members, which has an impact on how people are in the world.
COVID-19 IMPACT ON
FAMILIES IN KAYAMANDI
  • More people find themselves in poverty due to job losses and are not able to feed their families. Deaths and unemployment of breadwinners in family structures also means loss of income for extended family structures.
  • In some instances this means that people are paying more for transport to and from work than they earn for the day’s work. They nevertheless are holding on to these jobs for fear of not being able to find work when the economy improves.
  • The people who still do have jobs are now supporting more members of their extended families due to deaths and job losses. Previously financially better-off families have become severely financially stressed.
COVID-19 IMPACT OF DONORS
  • The impact of your financial support is direct tangible relief to school children and families with no food.
  • Some of our donors have decreased their support due to the pressures on the economy which we accept.
  • Food prices have increased and so we find ourselves with greater funding gaps than before.
BUSINESS FOR LIFE COURSE FOR ENTREPRENEURS
  • What are the criteria to be accepted on the course?
    • Applicants fill out an application form as well as a questionnaire that measures entrepreneurial predisposition, and then do a short problem solving exercise. We conduct interviews to gauge motivation levels and commitment to complete the course and from there we select 20 people to start the course.
  • How is the course monitored?
    • The course follows a tried and tested curriculum designed in 1994 by Wits University and run for years in various countries around the world by an organisation in Kenya that has personally trained our personnel in how to effectively facilitate the course.
    • Registers are taken and homework assignments set between modules (four modules – one per week, with time in between to test business ideas in the community and put into practice the money making exercises that form a core part of the course)
  • How do you follow up on the group´s mistakes/ successes?
    • The course is designed with five follow-up meetings, over approx. 11 months, in which the participants’ progress in their business is plotted and documented. The business mentor does follow-up visits.
    • If they decide to join one of the self-help groups, their discussions are monitored in a WhatsApp group, they meet monthly and keep minutes of group decisions and their usage of the revolving credit is monitored to check usage of funds, repayments and how much is being added to the revolving credit pot on a monthly basis. (See Small Business Self Helps Groups section below).
  • How many people will be able to attend the course?
    • We are limited to 20 people on the course due to Covid-19 considerations and it would depend on how many of them successfully start a business and continue to work on and grow that business. No business is 100% successful so we don’t expect this to be completely successful either. The Business for Life course does historically have an 80% success rate.
SMALL BUSINESS SELF-HELP GROUPS
  • What is a Small Business Self-Help Group?
    • The self-help groups are formed with five small businesses who have completed the Business for Life course. Each group is given access to R5000 of revolving credit that they self-manage and use to grow their small businesses. Each group decides on a maximum loan amount per member, repayment terms and how much each member will add to the revolving credit pot
  • What is the purpose of a self-help group?
    • Small businesses can’t access capital to grow their businesses. This offers them the chance of being their own funders and benefitting from the interest earned on loans to members.
    • They start learning about assessing risk and can offer advice to each other on how to improve a business idea to ensure a better chance of success.
    • If their revolving credit pot is managed well, they will have a buffer against any future shocks and will have a better chance of keeping their business going and growing. This builds resilience and fosters co-operation.
How would a person’s life change by participating in Business For Life and the Self-Help Groups?
They would have another avenue for income generation in order to support their families. If the business grows successfully then they will be increasing the amount of economic activity in this community and more job opportunities will be generated, thus ensuring higher employment of community members. They will also have a support structure in growing their business and will have access to capital to do this.
OUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE RIGHT NOW
Feeding as many families as we possibly can and assisting more people to apply for jobs and find alternate ways of earning an income.

The continued lack of opportunities for jobseekers in Kayamandi has been exacerbated by Covid.

Poverty also hampers a person’s ability to seek out and make the most of opportunities. i.e. limited ability to print CVs, not enough money for transport to interviews, not enough money for data to do job searches online etc.

Love to Give’s motto is “A Caring Community”.
DONATION REQUEST:
Donate directly to us and you will receive a Donation’s receipt which can be used for tax purposes.

Bank: ABSA
Acc. Name: Stellenbosch Community Development Programme
Acc. No: 406 384 1099

Or

Why don’t you start a Fundraiser campaign for Love to Give through GivenGain which is linked to us?

Thank you for reading this, for caring, for your financial support and for being part of our community.

With Warm Regards and many thanksAnnabel and the team at Love to Give

Annabel Rosholt, Project Director

*Please note : Photo’s of people not wearing masks were taken pre-Covid. Photographer: Michael Middleton, Jump Productions. Photo’s of people wearing masks taken recently by Jacques Treadway, Centre Manager and Dietician, Love to Give”