Tuesday 1 Dec.

Hey there! This week we’re focusing on getting ahead of schedule, as from next week we’ll be starting with our training programme for the Vuvuzela & Makarapa creation project, which will take up a lot of our time. So! Today we’re following up on some of our entrepreneurs in Ratanda, we should be meeting with a few different groups to assess their businesses for our mentorship programme, starting early next year. After meeting with our first group of crafters (run by a disabled man who does awesome leather work!) we were introduced to a new group that missed our presentation, a co-operative business called Thobelanani (Respect) a small group of skilled men and woman who make school uniforms and such for the community, keep in mind that most of these organizations are held in 10x5m lock up garage style rooms! We sit and listen to their hopes of expansion and building a thriving business, hoping we can play a part in helping them achieve these goals. On the other hand, the other two groups were no-shows! This proved to be intensely frustrating because we’ve taken the time out of our busy day to offer them a helping hand and by not even pitching up, what does that show us!? We can’t help them if they won’t help themselves. Government has a mission to try alleviate poverty by 2010, so here we are to do our part…Unfortunately we can’t wait around all day. Phew! After that we drove through to Edenvale as Hanolet Uys and Sharon Reed of Neosho had to go view an expo, the drive back to Pretoria was insane! The rain had started pouring down out of nowhere, near flooding the roads! We were forced to drive under 70km/h on the highway, with our hazards on and wipers at full sweep! After today, I’m just glad to be home!