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.

khomotjo Samuel Nkgapele

I had good effective training and trained 100 percent with the help community development officer from social development we have youth around area Matlala and Dendron the participants were extremely interested and asked relevant information. Money for sho is relevant and useful to the youth because it helps them build their lives. Still interested to set their goals learn about Budget is basic.help to plan and focus, the interesting part again funeral services and challenges, but sometimes the rollplay takes time but interesting. I still more learner to be trained

Rachel Rakoloti

I had the opportunity to train worksite sessions at SAPS department in Qwaqwa and Bethlehem, and COPTA department in Bloemfontein. We concentrated on two modules, Module 1 :My budget, and Module 4: Managing debt.When we were digging deep into the budget,they were shocked to see that they have been spending a lot on stuff they should be cutting on. Some of them didn't want to draft their budgets and face the reality of it and there were sad moments of coming to terms of pay day of each month. They all wanted to know how they could get out of over -indebtedness and be free from debt. They were grateful and motivated to bring about change.When it comes to module 4 Managing dept we had one of the workers in the session who works in the finance department who backed up all the information that was given to them in the training and they were truly informed and grateful for the training.

Motsoeneng Keneuwe

Below is the team from Reitz, one of the team I had the opportunity to do most of the sessions with. One of the highlighted issues were we realised that majority of the attendance was covered by ladies. Looking at YOUNG PEOPLE AND MONEY- their personal different experiences were most of them are not practicing SAVING AND INVESTING therefore it's also a challenge to understand the importance of managing money in terms of DEBTS and BOOSTING THEIR INCOME. Looking back at the lack of attendance by Males (Father's to the kids, Husbands, life partners). It is difficult to overcome the challenges because they now realise everyone in the household is involved in ensuring the good financial management. Therefore the scenario was, them as the Mother's of the kids they kind of know the boundaries but though they try the Daddies of the kids are too open in giving and spending on their kids without limit. So we concluded that although they don't attend we can still provide them with the information through adding them on WhatsApp groups and so far it is coming together for the good because they are engaging well and full of Questions and views.