Stories
Making A Positive Mark In Bethanie North West Bethanie is a village near Brits in Madison, about 60km within the rustenburg mining belt. The area is mainly depended on farming and mining for its sustainability. The people however feel excluded from the economic gains and infrastructure investment. Making a mark is about having an important effect on something. Born Fire Ministries made a lasting effect by welcoming us and Coronation Money Modular Training. They offered their church space and resources to have 32 young people impacted for almost 3 full days. The church has never worked in community before and through this intervention they managed to recruit the youth in the community. Here are some of the Youth stories from the field. Gomolemo Musi Story I had a computer and printer and wanted to start a business in my parents house of which they refused but during the course especially after doing boosting my income and young people and money I had courage to Kickstart the idea and I see some changes in my life. Charity Baloi Story The course has boosted my self confidence. I am an existing self employed entrepreneur and get skilled with boosting my income and managing my money has changed my life and business outlook. I look forward to learning more as I practice this skills on a daily basis. More such stories are told in the field and practical gains and young people are moved to action and grow their financial base. More stories will be published later. I am looking forward to more young lives being positively affected. Since this training took place a church branch belonging to Born Fire Ministries in another North West Location has agreed to host us in the Month of May 2023. Thanks a million to all dedicated to making a mark that cannot be erased within communities of South Africa.
Making A Positive Mark Within Potchefstroom Making a Mark is about having a positive or important effect on something. At the beginning of this year I vowed to travel to Parts of North West Province I have not trained in before and one of those place is in Potchefstroom. Therefore when Avocado Vision announced in February with the start of Trainings my heart leaped. Immediately I tried connecting with the Potchefstroom community. This led to me traveling two full days looking for training opportunities. All the responses at that time were negative and all doors shut, until I met A dedicated councilor of Ward 1 in Potchefstroom who agreed to my proposal to come train in His Area. For almost 3 weeks nothing happened and I was getting frustrated until eventually the door opened. Councilor David and the Ikageng community welcomed us with the Sanlam Money Modular Program for 3 Days leading up to Easter. All the beneficiaries and participants were mainly unemployed out of school youth who were hopeless and negatively impacted by life. Modules such as youth and money, money and beliefs, boosting my income, budgeting, and savings and investments made a lasting positive impact to those in attendance. The community is looking forward to having Avocado Vision and its partners return on an entrepreneurial Development space. Thanks a million to all involved in changing young lives and making a mark that cannot be erased within South Africa.
Sanlam project- the training kickstarted on 24 March with so much energy and enthusiasm. The training took place in an area called Lusaka and Luzuko. On Money fo Sho all participants were actively involved. They enjoyed the training in so much that they wanted more of CFE trainings. They did testimonials that they did know the importance of making a budget and prioritizing needs vs wants. What I also noted was the fire that they had on Will and that was discussed abased on their experiences. On MM the savings and investing was outstanding for them, the saving methods and their interests. I have not faced any challenges in terms of the venue as well as the training in overall. Branding will be appropriate for these trainings. Pop-up banners as well as table cloths.
Coronation project- the project kickstarted on 15 February 2023. I trained different communities around Cape Flats with the help of community leaders. The feedback from the community has been amazing. Participants shared that the information that they got from the sessions they shared it with their families and that made a huge positive impact in their household. They also shared that these trainings help on their businesses as well. I must say seeing people using these methods of managing their finances makes me see that indeed Avocado Vision is an agent of change.
I had an opportunity to train the youth from Kuyenzeka youth center in Phola. They were appreciative about the training and most mentioned that that’s are a lot of things when it comes to money that are being taken for granted. As young students/interns they get a lot of offers that can make end up in debt but after the session now they know what is good debt & bad debt. They shared their stories about their relationship with money and the would like to have future follow up so they can learn best practices from one another and to see if there is improvement on their relationship with money.
We had a great time with the Sanlam staff on the 28 of March 2023 at Rustenburg, North West of RSA. We were talking about a very interesting topic : Managing Debt. We had some heated debates and fruitful discussions. I also learnt a lot from them I must say. The purpose was to share and show them what we do in our communities as far as financial skills training progamme is concerned. We agreed that Debt can be useful financial tool. It can help you buy a car or home. If you use credit cards, there can be added benefits like travel points or extended warranties. But, if you have too much debt, it can limit your financial options. Participation was great with lots of insight. We concluded by saying that Debt can either help or hurt your financial future, depending on how you use it. If you borrow money wisely, debt can be a valuable tool that helps you manage expenses over a period of time. But if you use debt carelessly, it can threaten your financial future. At the end of the session all participants were awarded with a certificate.
This week I was training at Eastwood community Library in Pietermaritzburg,the week started off with my participants thinking that its just a week that they had off from work,they are {CWP} workers.As the first day progressed,you could see that the their thinking had changed because they were getting interested more and more.Questions were now being asked,examples were shared,experiences were also shared.My highlight for the week so far,would have to be the security guard asking me for a few minutes of my time after the training,He wanted to invest some money,he had heard me doing the savings and investment part yesterday.He had actually moved his chair from the front door to outside our training room door and sat there for the duration of the training.This made my week a lot,we are definetly empowering South Africans 1 session at a time.
I was training money modulars at Radinong secondary school.Learners were very energized and wanted to learn. When I train the module of boosting income they were very keen to learn as they said they want to start their own businesses that they will run on weekends. They said they will save the profit they get for future use. It was a proud moment for me as a facilitator that i was able to help. They were so excited and wanted more.they thanked Sanlam for providing them with knowledge and skills that will help them in future.
Linda Mashita stays at Umbumbulu and she's living with disability. She attended the Money Fo Sho and Module 1 at Ziphatheleni Community Centre, she was very excited that she asked me if I can arrange all these sessions for other people living with disability. She has more than 100 people in her database who reside in different parts of KZN. She further explained that, disabled people are often excluded from participating in community activities. We need to create a program that will benefit people living with disability.
As a high school learner transitions to tertiary, they may be faced with the task of deciding which college or university to attend and how to finance their education. This is a story of a young man Katlego Dlomo one of our successful participants who attended session COR - 11720 on the 16 of March 2023, At Zone 6, Rustenburg, North West Province of RSA. The venue for training was at a tavern and we empowered our community with financial skills and financial knowledge and we were talking about my money and tax (Module 8). During the training the delivery truck came to deliver their products and left. There was a gentleman who joined the session and participated who came with the truck. After the training was complete the gentle came to me and introduced himself as Mr. Maseko the managing director of MDP distributors and said that he was encouraged by what we are doing in and around our community and he said that he is looking for 10 general workers for his company and there's no better place than here!! So10 participants were hired and reported for duty the following day, talk about life changing moment for this young people including Katlego. Thank you Avocado Vision and Coronation for empowering us to empower others.
