Stories
from 4th feb to 07 feb 2021 i had five sessions for hollard streetwise finance online course. participates were very excited about the course and the feedback was great. they said it was an eye opener . they now going to budget their money wisely and also save for rainy days. they even referred some of their friends to also complete the the course.
In the Month of January and February 2020, I conducted couple of trainings in the following communities: EYardini, EThembeni,Kosovo, Winnie Madikizela, Harare, and HeinzPark. These communites appreciated the training as it was their first time to be exposed on such information. In Some communities I had to train 3 groups because community leaders felt that this training is needed in these communities. These trainings made a huge impact in these communities. The forum also requested more of these trainings.
From 26/01/2021 I started training for interns and sme's for Lima , CSA and Amampondo Ecochamps based in the remote rural areas of the Eastern Cape . Mostly we were training youth who are employed for the first time with a 1 year contract so financial literacy training was critical for them as it'll enable them to take wise financial decisions for the future. As rural people we don't often prioritize Saving, Insurance , planning for needs and wants and retirement, we always associate retirement products with wealthy people and individuals earning huge sums of money , but after these trainings they're wise enough . Lima group are the sme's supporters and funded by Lima but can't take care of their personal finances how can they run businesses . Overall outcome was these individuals can now spread the word to their communities after doing so we will have african community with respect and love for money .
Also during January I trained community members of Steytlerville and Willowmore in Hollard Streetwise finance, the community members expressed their gratitude for the training and appreciated the role Hollard and Avocado have played in bringing the training to Steytlerville. They were quite interested in the firs module regarding Needs vs Wants and budgeting as some have worked before or are working or receiving grant but just couldn't use their monies efficiently and effectively leading to over indebtedness and stress and anxiety hopefully they will implement measures to change their ways. Also the insurance module as many had a lot of funeral covers but only funeral cover. Mr. Sam Blaauw share his story where he worked and did business to where he had land, cattle, house and belongigs of about 2 million rands in the year 2002 and declined manyvadvices to take out insurance for his belongings and one day in 2004 he lost everything through fire and it took him 7 years to recover emotionally but still scared and could never recover financially and he shared his story so as to advise young people to look after themselves and belongings and never to undermine the importance of insurance. So as much as at times we know life teaches us otherwise, hence I believe real life experience are major contributors when we train. I also had an assessor from Hollard for 4 days.
During january 2021 I trained community members of Steytlerville in Hollard Streetwise finance. The groups included the newly contrated teacher assistants. They appreciated the training and enjoyed it very much as some are first time earners and were never exposed to financial literacy, as one Mr. Cross put it he was about to spend all of his money knowing that the next paycheck is coming, but now that he has attended the training he will better plan the use of his money and try and save for when there is no contract and for other things too. It was very interactive sessions and the participants were open to tell their experiences. They wished me to thank Hollard for bringing the training to the rural area of Steytlerville and Avocado Vision for enabling the training to be facilitated in their area and they wished for more trainings to come to them.
On 21/12/2020 - 23/12/2020 we empowered communities of Siyangena infomal settlement as well Winnie Madikizela informal settlement. All three sessions were successful and productive. The community members appreciated the training and they said they are looking forward for more trainings like these. I must commend the community leaders for organising the venues and the participants. An assessor from Hollard was present too. "These Financial literacy training are very helpful to our communitues, we learn lot of new methods on how to manage money" one of the community member Thandokazi said. They also said they would appreciate if there can be follow up programs just to check how they are doing with their finances.
Sanlam MM training had a huge impact at Makgobistad / Phitsane Village.... It was for the first time people had such training and they were so happy and asked that i should come back with more trainings in future.. I so wish to get back to them with more workshops in future. I am very grateful to Avocado Vision and Sanlam for giving me this opportunity to impact peoples lives positively..
I had the privilege of facilitating the Sanlam Money Fo Sho program in the areas of Steytlerville, Jansenville and Willowmore during October and November. I had a very successful sessions and the participants were enthusiastic and appreciated the training very much as they got exposed to new information or/and the old reinforced through the training. Budgeting seem to highlight my sessions as some are budgeting but end up not implenting it hence the importance they realised of differentiating between needs and wants and prioritizing items on your budget. The risk module also highlighted the need to assess your needs as it turned out that many over insured in some instances yet they were either under or not insured at all in other instances. The credit module also had people speaking as some did not realise how credit works and how much money is spent on credit rather than the item. Fraud and scams as always is a hot topkc as many people only realised during the training that they were being scamed and are spenfing money pn fraudulent stuff. The training was a huge success as it brought useful and relevant information to our people and hopefully they will follo through with their promise to change their financial behaviour and plan better for and the future
Sanlam MFS and MM Since it is now level 1 recruitment was no longer a problem and people were coming in numbers to attend trainings. Money fo sho went well and I promised my groups to come back with MM. Unfortunately I couldn't because the target was enough for 1 group. The challenge was that people were no longer wearing masks and had to buy disposable ones for them. That led to a thorough covid awareness as most people believe in myths than facts On one Sunday a Sanlam representative visited us to evaluate training. She was excited to see how the programme is managed. She also raised her concerns about the duration of training.
