Stories
Training SAFRICAN in the community of Ratanda was a great experience, to also engage with new participants who are eployees of manucipality at Ratanda. We where able to complete our 3 day money fosho workshop training 160 participants in the 3 days that I was booked. Participants where so excited as we where doing the activities more especially budget plan was an eye opening to reflect 😔 and participants shares the experience on why they fail to mantain doing budget plan. Attendence was good and participation in all the workshops. After each day I was approached by the participants telling me that they need to start saving for their Goals and manage money properly
on 08 august 2026 i had money modules face to face class at honeydew. participants came in numbers and some had to arrange for next class as we already had full class of 32 participants. almost all participants were unemployed and saying theres no opportunities in their community, one of the module we covered was boost my income, it was so amazing to hear the business ideas and talents they have thou they never thought they can implement them due to various reasons such as luck of funding, fear, and many other reasons they gave. great news is after the session i ask them if they still feel if it was impossible to go for the business ideas and talents they have and most vowed that they are going to do more research and start soon, they realised they can start small while aiming high, even if they fail they just have to keep on trying and finding ways to make it success. i was so happy as many entreprenears where realised that day.
Bojanala’s Plight, Economic Survival and Renewed Hope Bojanala continues to face serious socio-economic challenges, including unemployment, rising living costs, over-indebtedness, limited savings, inconsistent service delivery and the growing threat of illegal mining across its local municipalities, including Moretele, Madibeng, Rustenburg, Moses Kotane and Kgetlengrivier. For many households, economic survival is a daily reality. Yet, within these challenges lies a powerful lesson: knowledge can become a tool for survival, dignity and transformation. Through the Avocado Vision and Clientele Money for ’Sho Financial Literacy Programme, communities received more than four days of training—they received practical knowledge that could influence financial decisions long after the programme ended. Across Kromkuil, Madibeng and surrounding communities, participants learned how to budget, manage money, avoid unnecessary debt, save, use formal financial services responsibly and make informed purchasing decisions. Personal testimonies from Pastor Ndlovu and Mme Anita demonstrated that financial transformation does not always begin with having more money; it can begin with using what you have more wisely. Pastor Ndlovu shared how, despite earning a steady income as a church leader, he often found himself struggling financially due to poor planning and untracked spending. He explained how he would prioritise church needs and community requests while neglecting his own household budget. After the training, he hopes to set clear financial boundaries, plan monthly expenses in advance, and separate personal and ministry funds. This shift can bring greater stability to his home and allow him to support others more sustainably. Mme Anita’s story was equally powerful. She arrived in Johannesburg with nothing but determination and began selling small items informally to survive. Over time, she learned to reinvest her profits, keep simple records, and avoid unnecessary borrowing. Through discipline and consistency, her small trading activity grew into a reliable source of income that now supports her family. Her journey reminded participants that resilience and resourcefulness can open real pathways to independence. An important lesson that resonated strongly with participants was the need to keep funeral expenses within a realistic household budget and avoid extravagance. Funerals are important occasions of dignity, remembrance and community support, but participants learned that honouring a loved one should not leave surviving family members burdened by excessive debt. The programme therefore offered an important alternative narrative to the economic pressures confronting Bojanala. Where unemployment and illegal mining can create desperation and risky choices, financial literacy creates awareness, discipline, hope and better choices. It does not eliminate poverty overnight, but it equips people to take greater control of their financial futures and make responsible decisions even during difficult times. We sincerely acknowledge Moretele Councillor Mothusi, who spearheaded the planning and coordination of the entire training programme. His leadership and commitment to bringing this intervention to the community played an important role in creating the platform for learning, participation and renewed hope.
HOLLARD STREETWISE FINANCE IMPACT STORY It is with a full heart that I submit this report on the Hollard Streetwise Finance rollout across the Northern Cape for the July–August 2026 reporting period. Beyond the numbers — which I am proud to share are strong — this cycle carried some of the most moving training experiences of my career as a facilitator. I have tried, in the pages that follow, to do justice to the people we met, the courage they showed, and the difference this programme made in communities that too often feel unseen. PROGRAMME OVERVIEW The rollout took place over three consecutive engagements, each chosen to reach communities in the Northern Cape that face real barriers to financial information and inclusion. We moved from Roodepan, to Promise Land, and finally to a specialised session hosted in partnership with DPSA and DEET, two national organisations working with persons living with disabilities. The programme opened in Roodepan, a Kimberley community that is predominantly coloured and one that, in my experience as a facilitator working across the Northern Cape, continues to feel underserved and often overlooked when opportunities are handed out. Over two sessions we welcomed a rich mix of participants — energetic youth sitting alongside older community members who had waited a long time for a programme like this to reach their doorstep. A total of 64 participants completed training in Roodepan. What struck me was the intergenerational hunger for financial knowledge: young people wanting a foothold into better money habits before life's pressures set in, and older residents finally getting language and tools for financial decisions they had been navigating alone for years. It set exactly the right tone for the weeks that followed — a reminder that Streetwise Finance is not just a youth programme; it is a community one. PROMISE LAND — THE STORY THAT WILL STAY WITH US The following week we moved to Promise Land, a township area of Kimberley marked by shacks and hardship, where 230 participants came through our sessions — the single largest group of the entire rollout. If Roodepan set the tone, Promise Land is where this programme found its deepest purpose. Among the participants were young men widely known in the community as substance users — boys battling addiction to tik, nyaope, and other substances. I will be honest: I did not expect the level of engagement I witnessed. These young men arrived and gave the sessions everything. They asked sharp, relevant questions. They threw themselves into every activity. They grasped and applied every concept we placed in front of them, and did so with a sharpness that humbled me as a facilitator. “Thank you for bringing this opportunity to us. We never thought we would ever receive a certificate in our lives, not with the choices we've made.” — Participants, Promise Land After the sessions closed, several of these young men came to find me personally. They thanked me, thanked Avocado Vision, and thanked Hollard — not for a hand-out, but for a moment of dignity. For many of them, the certificate they walked away with was the first piece of paper in their lives that told them they were capable of something. That is not a small thing. That is the kind of moment that reminds all of us why this work matters, and it is a story I believe Hollard and Avocado Vision should be proud to have made possible. DPSA & DEET — A SESSION I WAS HONOURED TO DELIVER The rollout closed with an invitation from two national organisations, DPSA and DEET, who work with persons living with a range of disabilities. Here we trained 85 participants — among them individuals who are blind, others who use hearing aids, and others who are non-verbal. The host organisations made every provision necessary to ensure the session was fully accessible, and their preparation made a real difference. These participants are currently enrolled in a year-long national programme, working across local schools on set days each week — cleaning classrooms and school grounds, assisting teachers, and supporting kitchen staff — before returning to the classroom on scheduled dates for sessions such as ours. Working with this community has always been one of the honours of my career. People living with disabilities so often describe feeling forgotten, overlooked in rooms built for people without their challenges in mind. That was not the case here. They were sharp. They were engaged. They made the session entirely their own, and asked for more before we had even finished. The teamwork and warmth between participants — the way they supported one another through every activity — is something I have rarely seen matched in any training room, disability or otherwise. “One participant, who is non-verbal, was so determined to take part in the discussion that she kept trying to speak until she found a way to give us even a hint of what she wanted to say — and the room waited for her, with patience and love, until she did.” That single moment captured everything this programme stands for. The impact of that session did not end with the participants. My class assistant was so moved by the experience that she has since decided to enrol in sign language classes, so that she can communicate more fully with participants like these in future sessions. That is the kind of ripple effect that no target or spreadsheet can measure — but it is, I believe, exactly the kind of impact Hollard set out to create when this programme was designed CLOSING REFLECTION Across Roodepan, Promise Land, and the DPSA/DEET session, this rollout reached 379 participants against a target of 377 — but the number that matters most to me is not on this page. It is the certificate held by a young man in Promise Land who never expected to hold one. It is a woman in a DPSA session who refused to let silence stop her from being heard. It is an assistant facilitator now signing up for sign language classes because one afternoon in the Northern Cape changed how she sees her own work. On behalf of my team, thank you to Avocado Vision and Hollard for trusting me to carry this programme into these communities. It is a privilege I do not take lightly, and I look forward to continuing this work in the next reporting cycle. Ishmael Hangula Avocado Vision-Training Partner, Northern Cape
On the 4th August 2026 I facilitated a session of Money Fo Sho to Ga-Moduane community forum. There was this young adult Thato Mndi who participated in the session, he expressed his gratitude that the training came at an opportune moment for them given the economic condition of their village, majority of whom work in neighbouring farms, doing seasonal work and some are social grant dependent. This situation needed a proper understanding of how to manage own finances, in particular the savings and investment part of budgeting where the 50/30/20 rule is applied. He believes that if as young adults could save collectively and form a Finance Cooperative, they could be able to purchase a piece of land where they could plant Pecan nut trees. In this way the community could develop together, by working the land together, employ their community members to work the farm. The knowledge acquired could help to cushion the community against many unexpected events, thus moving them away from being reliant on government social grant and be contributors to their own development. Currently the Pecan nut industry is developing rapidly, where a ton is about R50k. If his theory is correct, the village could be financially viable within five years. To this end he takes to heart the importance and knowledge of drawing a personal budget because this fans out to help an individual become independent and resourceful.
Truffle MFS was held in the Rural area of Western Cape, a place called Ashton at Zolani location. It was a great opportunity for the people of Zolani as they are the Farm and Seasonal workers. At this time of the year, they are not working and these trainings give them an understanding oh how they supposed to live after the season, it makes them to use this as a great opportunity to start developing something great for them and their families. MFS has been a great training, they learn new skills, some of the learners they attended previously and they said "they wish to be reminded about saving and investing because it has played a big role in their house holds" and now they are getting an improvement of how their money should be divided by using 50%,30%and 20%plan. Coming to the insurances and funeral policies, this is one of the biggest challenge in this community, many people join the funeral policies with a wrong influence by thinking that, is their way of making money, not knowing that the funeral insurances are having one strategic plan of not covering one person more than a R100, 000.00,this has opened their mind because lots of people lost their money in these policies, and it also made the elderly people to request these trainings, and the demand to have them they it's a must for them to be trained. Another challenge was the issue of the IDs, people refused to give us their IDs and the training nearly ended not nicely although they are looking for the information, they have mentioned that, if it was for the job opportunity could be better, that is the reason we didn't get copies and only took fotos. We thank you for the opportunity of empowering our community, the financial information skill. And we also thank Truffle and Avo team.
This is been an amazing journey. I have learnt as much from the participants as they have learnt from me. During the Youth and money session, I was quite surprised to find out that there were a number of youth that were already saving. What made it difficult for them was that that very same savings were absorbed by the household needs, resulting in frustration and despondency. Conversations around how this could be navigated perspired, leaving the youth with renewed hope. The participants of the last session was so eager to learn that they actually requested the Trainer to prolong the session for further discussions. This was Youth from a very rural area in George. The certificate ceremony was the cherry on the cake. Unfortunately there were also the less positive side whereby Community members did not pitch for the sessions which had to be rescheduled. Over all, it was a very fruitful journey. Well done, Avovision; well done George Communities!
It was a great privilege to conduct Money Fo sho funded by Truffle Asset Management. This opportunity proved to me that indeed financial education is a key to financial freedom. Because many South African have been making poor decision on managing their finances due to lack of knowledge. For each and every section there was an AHA! Moment. Participants shared about their earliest memory about money and what impact it has done today. One participant shared that he is coming from a poor background and he told himself that once he get an opportunity he will buy himself everything he never had. He shared that he was doing this for the society to prove that he has made it in life. While he was living fleshy life he got himself into debts because he wanted to maintain the lefestyle even though he was not affording. This led him to mental health and got himself into substance abuse. Through the lessons on Money Fo Sho he realised that he did not set goals for his life even he did he was not writing them down. After writing down his goals during the session he realised that if he could've followed this method he could've been far in life because he saw the possibilities. One lady also share that he thought the budget was to keep money somewhere and buy item when it enough to do so. Retirement Annuity was a big eye-opener for self employed participants. Young participants who are in work readiness program truly appreciated this knowledge. They said it came on the right time.
Training the Money fosho program that was sponsored by Truffle , all sessions were organized in Rathanda and because of unforseen events , the was a riot around the community 😳 and I managed to train two workshops and others where moved 😀 to Jameson Park and Katlegong East rand. The attendance was great and the turn up in all sessions that where booked . People who attended really enjoyed the workshop as well as the food . Many of the participants gave verbal feedback about the workshop that they really enjoyed the information and activities that where done just activated the new way of thinking In relation what they new about Budget plan , needs and wants and about the insurance sectore. Venues where comfortable and accessible, the material that we used was easy to navigate and to learn 😉 Community asked for more workshops in the future. In each session the where dynamics of the Group people share their own personal knowledge, past history about what they have been thinking.
On the 21st of June 2026 I trained a group of people at Dududu, Umdoni Municipality in Ugu District on Money For Sho funded by iTOO. The recruitment was made possible by the Centre for Community Development South Africa (CCDSA) led by Mr Msizi Khumalo. The session was held at Dududu Drop In Centre where most of the community activities are conducted. In attendance was the youth and the adults, most of whom are unemployed and have no further education. When they learner that the session was meant to equip them with much needed financial skills, they were very hopeful that it might open the doors of employment for them. They participated with great enthusiasm, sharing their life experiences and participating in group discussions. They also shared their concerns about the high level of unemployment which leads to many of them indulging in alcohol, however It was exciting to hear them agree that they could save a lot of money if they could cut down on alcohol intake and used their time discussing about ways to make money and also start small businesses that can create job opportunities for others. At the end of the session they were very proud to hold their certificates which they saw as one step in the right direction.
