Poverty and the inability to escape it are a reality for thousands of women, but there are organisations working to change things for women in this situation.
One such is the Uitenhage self-reliance centre, a non-profit organisation that provides opportunities for women to become economically active and independent.
The small community of Kaba is poverty-stricken and faces problems such as drugs, alcohol and gangsterism claiming many promising young lives.
A story of a mother and her daughter’s encounters with these social ills led them to the centre and now Vinity Fortuin runs her own business.
Beneficiary Fortuin says, “He helped me a lot when it came to looking for a job. Because we are also a group that offers needlework. He helped us set up our business as our main aim was to get kids off the street and avoid teen pregnancy and drug abuse. Every time we need him, he is there. Personally, he helped me with my child also. He gave us advice so she can build a better future.”
This self-reliance center is open to everyone in the community helping men and young children alike, from teen pregnancies, family counselling, and job hunting to job placing.
Chairperson of Uitenhage self-reliance centre Freddy Effenar says, “We assist you. We have got all the different agencies, and their websites that you can go and register on. And we have a huge success with that. We’ve got a notice board where we put up job ads and people go and apply for it. We help them create a strong compatible CV we guide them to strengthen our CVs and if they get a call, and lots of them do get a call, we help them prepare for interviews.”
The NPO has only been up and running since last month but the change it brought is already visible.
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