Boiketlo Molokomme

I had an opportunity to train few groups of CWP workers at Mogalakwena district in Limpopo. It was worksite sessions sponsored by Sanlam. The groups were very much ready for the training and they took it very serious, they were combination of youth and older people, they liked module 4 a lot saying that it opened their eyes about credit. Scam and fraud was the module that participation was high as most of them wanted to share their experiences concerning scam,:and others were listening showing expression on their faces that they want to capture every information that was offered, for me i was very happy when they thank me and ask that I should come with more modules, cos they need info like that to mamage their finances better.

Motsoeneng Keneuwe

I had the opportunity to train with the CWP group one from Clarens and the following modules were covered My Budget, saving and investing, money safety and managing debt. The group is part of the community driven government program to provide a job safety net for unemployed people of working age however in the group there are still elders who are pensioners working under the programme to extend their income. General challenges noted during the sessions were their monthly income is roughly R960 therefore, we stayed a little longer on the topic MY BUDGET trying to medge between their income and expenses as most of them they are only depended on their salaries and grants (child grants and/or pensioners grant and about 3 disability grant). The expenses are more higher than their income Moreover it is not easy to have savings and investment accounts and this situation sometimes forces them to poorly manage their debts by default to arrears due to low or no payments. At the same time we discussed how one can balance between money coming in and money going out by cutting on expenses and managing debts by prioritising needs before wants, monitoring budget plan before receiving and after receiving money. Again the highlight was starting to save the little that is spared slowly considering the account with high interest rate and correct type of interest rate, furthermore keeping up to date with those small accounts to grow their credit score. In conclusion we briefed since their working schedule is 8 a month - 2 days a week, individuals of working age can find another temporary jobs for the 3 remaining days a week while others suggested a smaller business on side to add on their income list and lastly participants were thankful that they now know it's not about huge amount of money, any amount is manageable,.going forward they will do better.

khomotjo Samuel Nkgapele

I had good opportunity to incouter with a group of learners who are employed in project and where happy because it was follow up from the training they did for charcoal production. Boosting income training is relevant for most of them to start something before and after the project end which is business. The training was an eye opener for those take things for granted and never think a project has it's end is not for ever. Many of them concared with the content of the to assist with skills in boosting income and to start business this advocated by comments on post evaluation of the training. All four groups behaved well share their experiences and few suggested we add budgets in this training but indicated is another module. I realise some are selling fire hood which informal but this training some promise to start formal charcoal business and put it on the market and register with relevant authorities. That also need follow up including training taxes because is concern. Participants were happy and gave respect to avocado vision to come up and create session like this to enlighten their and knowledge to boost life skills.

Nontobeko Mabaso

This week I trained in Msinga/Tugela Ferry and Nquthu Although there were hiccups here and there,the week was great.The group in Nquthu,there were participants who could not read nor write,at first I got very frustrated because I couldn't understand how they are running businesses,but the highlight was how they assisted each other,reading and writing for each other,the patience and love they had for each other,I learnt a lot from them,sometimes we take advantage of things that to some people are a treasure to.The ability to read and write,hold a pen etc.SEF project

Nozipho Khuzwayo

I conducted a training to the group of physically impaired ladies who are on an ECD Learnership Program. The Sanlam MM training took place at the ELET-Portshepstone site in October 2023. Learners were trained on Module 1,2,3,4,5,6,9&10. It was the most exciting and fruitful training with most outstanding learner participation I have ever had in any Financial Education program. At the beginning I was not comfortable because most learners had chronic sicknesses and there was always a Social Worker and an assistant in class incase of any emergencies during the lesson. What was noticeable is that the majority of the learners were very intelligent and came up with the best ideas in all the topics we discussed. I was so touched by the discussion on the goal setting where the learners were so eager to share their short, medium and long term goals and I was very impressed by the fact that their physical state was not a barrier to them achieving their life goals and was so amazed by the optimism they had despite their impairment, they rose above that and were very grateful for the knowledge on good saving methods and how they can manage risk to minimise using their savings. The other interesting discussion was a story shared by one learner on the funeral cover claim which had an exclusion that could have resulted in the family members's loss but they fought with the insurer till they were paid 10% of their insured amounts, so that was an eye opener to all, to be aware of such information when they take funeral policies as not everyone will have the strength to fight and win the battle as shared by their peer. After this exciting session, I feel that we should include more participants with disabilities in the future as they are normal mentally and should not be discriminated. They need the financial education just like any other person and their physical state make them more stronger and eager to excel in life.

Boiketlo Molokomme

I was training sanlam worksite at seleka clinics, my delegates were community home based care workers. At first they were not comfortable about the training. Once I started training everything flow, they were participating and enjoying the session. After the session they thanked me for the information and asked if they could have more modules as they now realised that they gained information that will help them to manage their finances better.

bonganiw magagula

The Ulundi municipality workers had an opportunity to express their financial situation that includes challenges during the worksite Financial life skills training. Avocado Vision in partnership with sunlam make this training possible. My observations many patients raised concern of earning less ,but not well skilled about managing their current income. They have managed to learn more about budgeting digging deeper to manage their income before. Some participants speak out that if they where thought early about budget a lot was going to achieved in their lives. They have also learned more about different types of savings method where they can keep their money safety and also earn interest. The was a positive response towards the serving method session, some of the information where new to most participants even though they show positive response and interest in the saving method. Mr Nkosi said this must a continuous session also to their children so that they must not make same mistake they did as parents.

Gugulethu Petela

On the 21st of June, myself and two officials from Sanlam visited the Eskom CNC (offices) in eMpangeni to conduct 2 worksite sessions (Money Module 1 and 4). There we came across a much larger audience, wich was also more youthful and diverse. This younger crowed was very open more participative than what we experienced the day before- not that they had forgotten to joke about my namesake. Training went very well, with this group taking a huge liking to the Managing debt session as they felt that the scourge that is bad debt is "manhandling" them into depression. At the end of the session I overheard one of the participants teaching another gentleman who had missed the session about the importance of managing debt, after that conversation the new gentleman approached me to ask when we would be back again as he was interested in training.

Gugulethu Petela

On the 20th of June, I visited the Eskom eMthubathuba CNC (office) with Sanlam officials in tow to conduct 2 Money Module sessions. We were met by what seemed like a hostile crowd at first but turned out to be some of the greatest people I have ever met. The first thing that came up as an interesting point of discussion was the cultural difference, my name- GUGUlethu is more common among women in KZN. Once all the joking and laughter was out of the way we got into the days activities. We covered MM1 ( My Budget-digging deeper) and MM4 (Managing debt- I owe, I owe, I owe) over 2 lovely sessions. One of the participants, an elderly man who is a few months away from retirement, commented that he wished he had received this type of training at the beginning of his work career because his life would have been much better off. He vowed to take the SMART and 50/30/20 rules back home with him to teach his grandkids, that is after having written them down on his phone and notebook. The participants were very grateful for the training at the end and even opted to fix their policy profiles with Sanlam. One participant who had had one of his wives as the main beneficiary for years even changed his mind and included his other wife too.

Fana Patrick Usiba

During the period between May and June 2023 I took a toral number of 151 participants through a Clientele Money Fo Sho! Programme comprising five sessions. The first session in May comprised Traditional Healers ; They were very thankful and expressed their appreciation of the knowledge they got from the session comprising the six pillars of Money Management. They indicated how this new found skill will assist them in their line of business. After that, the following sessions roll out (four of them) comprised the youth in the Greater Alexandra Area who, majority of them are from poverty stricken families. Hence besides Empowering them with Financial Management skills, I felt duty bound to refer them to a local youth Organization called Bokamoso Ke Barona to acces various skills like cosmetology, Fibre Optic, Cellphone repair, SOfgiceecurity Training, Driver's license, Office Admin, End User Computer Programme. The above-mentioned ptogrammes are sponsored by various Government Agencies like( DSD) Department of Social Development and (NLC) National Lotto Company), thus these prigrammes are free except for a nominal commitment of R100. At the completion of their respective programs the participants are ready to play a significant role in the0 economic sphere as Entrepreneurs, creating the much needed jobs eithin their community.