Tuesday 30th March

Today and yesterday i was able to work from home, which has given me time to sort through a few things that i needed to complete.
The work i do usually involves taking pictures of things that are happening,people and places mostly. Loving photography, this is a really cool bonus (I just have to get into the habit of posting more pictures!) while some of my pics get used for website stuff, others have been used for slideshow presentations,now, as the photographer and as part of the company, it's a point of pride that people know where they're from, so I've just recently learned how to "copyright" these pics with our names, which was pretty easy once it was explained..
The web work that i'm busy with at the moment is just basically the beautifying of the webpage, Buygerine, it's a work in progress and we're just changing the feel of the site for now. We may be getting a new addition to the Neosho119 staff soon on the Web side, which will be nice as i won't be the most junior employee anymore ( Yay! )But i'll still be the only male member, feeling outnumbered? I might be going through with Hanolet tomorrow, not too sure yet, might be nice to get out the flat..I'm in danger of getting cabin fever, i'm sure of it

Thursday 25 March 2010

We head out this morning Heidelberg , the line up for today in Ratanda is basically the interviewing of several new businesses , after surviving the traffic ( we were almost taken out by some random in a busted-up delivery truck!) We managed to stop for a take-away coffee Yay!) and were in Ratanda just after nine a.m.
The few guys (and one woman) that met us have promising businesses varying from a DJ to a courrier company, we added their info to our ever expanding database, basically it's last year all over again! Finding the entrepreneurs, whittling the many down to the promising few, interviews,acceptance,induction and training! It's a good thing that we enjoy this line of work, anyone who didn't wouldn't be able to find the patience to deal with alot of these people, it's a long process but knowing what the outcome could be ( a life changing event for some) makes it worthwhile in the end. We met with a caterer from Ratanda who will be supplying all the meals for the trainees over the course of their training, keeping it local is a good move as it's all about empowering less fortuate individuals! The sessions will be held at the Ratanda community centre.
Our next mission was to travel across the border into the Freestate, to Maccauvlei.
We found Kristy Blackbeard and had a quick discussion with regards to all the work still being finalised, they're busy registering our programme with the seta's, it's all coming right!
The next few weeks will be centred around introducing more people to the programme and hopefully getting more areas to participate, it will be alot of hard work but i'll get to see areas such as Soweto! very exciting!!

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Evening everyone!
after a good nights rest i felt great today! While on the farm this weekend, riding bikes, i managed to crash the bike, taking a long slide off a short road! As a result, my knees have a lot less skin than they used to and i'm limping around, to some peoples amusement.
Hanolet and myself had to go drop off Mentorship training dates and times in Sharpeville and Ratanda. As we were leaving Edenvale Hanolet realised that she had left the documents behind! Luckily they were on her flash drive, so we got them all re-printed and started off to Ratanda a few minutes behind schedule, The guys at the internet cafe must make a killing! Charging us R2 per page when it costs them roughly 15c! Good business to go into! After quick stops in Ratanda and Sharpeville, where we were able to get some new profiles for intakes, we headed out into Evaton to meet up with a group of women from different buinesses who were interested in our programme, unfortunately, out of the twenty-odd profiles we wrote up only two so far are worth using! Many had a problem with english and others just had no real idea as to what business is! By the time we got home today i was tired gain, think i should start going to bed earlier!!

Tuesday 23 March 2010

Hey all!

Hope everyone had a relaxing long weekend! My time on the farm was great, today still felt like a monday though! Even an extended weekend still feels too short, one of my friends thinks that every weekend should include a Monday, i don't disagree! We headed out to Witbank to the '4 LIFE' water plant, i managed to get the information on the people working there and watched them at work, it really is an interesting process,bottling water! This past weekend at the farm, although relaxing, was exhausting! We had a great time though, offroad biking and grooming horses and such, one thing that can be said is that although the 'farmhands' don't earn as much as peope living closer to the cities, they are probably living better on account of being able to live off the land! the vegetables growing up there are amazing!! i made sure i got my share of chillies,jalapenos, tomatoes and butternut! Being able to sustain yourself and your family is a huge responsibility that all people live with, the entrepreneurs we have dealt with sometimes only earn R500 per month, yet they survive! it definately is a skill, being a survivalist!

From tomorrow i'll be working with Hanolet, She has been really busy recently, so ill get to catch up on whats happening with the mentorship intakes and any new interviews coming up!

Fri 19 March 2010

What a great day! Firstly, let me say thanks to our saviours, Redbull and good coffee!

We started out early this morning, arriving in Sharpeville just after six. Three people didn’t turn up for registration, at this point it’s really a matter of ‘your loss, not ours’ what else can we do?? Once we’d arrived at Maccauvlei and all our entrepreneurs had settled down, Hanolet gave the opening welcome speech, she was followed by a new Facilitator, Desia Block, who spoke about the importance of being dedicated and committed during this programme! Desia paved the way beautifully for Mondli, whose presentation and explanation of the contracts was received really well by the Sharpeville guys and girls, there was the inevitable stressed silence when he mentioned the liability section (if the intakes drop the course after signing they are liable for the money Maccauvlei has spent on them, roughly R16,000) but that was quickly explained and everyone could breathe again! Once again, guest speaker- Zodwa Maleka- blew the audience away with her stunning success story, exciting our learners and giving them a taste of things to come. Thank you to Maccauvlei, its facilitators and all the entities involved in helping this project take shape!

The day went along without a problem, the Sharpeville crowd seem a little more restless than the Ratanda intakes but just as eager! Only great things can come from this!

Thankfully this weekend is a long one, we are all feeling the need for a holiday by now, I’m sure! We’re at a farm for a few days, on the drive up we were caught in a hailstorm, awesome!

It’s like getting caught in a sudden, furious downpour of rain… gotta love it! I know I have been waiting for this weekend since Monday, enjoy it to the fullest and have a great one!

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Monday and Tuesday this week were pretty uneventful, i worked at the office touching up the site and editing the last profiles, however on Monday i recieved an e-mail saying that our press release was sent through to the paper, yay! thanks to Mondli and Hanolet for their attention to details! On friday this week Sharpeville start their course! really excited about that! Wonder if they'll be as motivated as last weeks intakes?! I worked from home today, lucky me! the new front page of our neosho119 website is worth a look! (http://www.neosho119.com/) and the intakes' profiles are completed, check it out! Otherwise today has been great (partly because i got to work from home..) i let my Bearded dragon out of its tank for a walk, which ended up in me trying to lure him out from under the fridge with a piece of apple and a broom-handle! Also, Happy st. patricks day! enjoy!

Friday 12 March 2010

Today was the first time I’d seen 4:00am in a long time!

By 5:00am myself and Hanolet were on the road to Ratanda, we arrived just after six O’clock, and waited for the intakes to arrive. Today is their day, they’ll start their training!

The guys and girls started arriving and everyone was excited to be there, the man in charge of the buses transporting the people to and from Maccauvlei was a guy called Sipho Radebe….And it’s actually Lucas Radebes Nephew! Pretty cool.

Once everyone was loaded and ready to go we left the buses behind and went to Maccauvlei, it’s not a long drive but we had time to wake up and wonder how good the coffee would be. Very good was the answer! The guys from Ratanda registered and got their ‘school books’ and could relax for an hour while everything was set up, coffee,tea and muffins went around. Myself, Hanolet and Mondli said hi to the various big shots from Anglo-Zimele, Nedbank and Maccauvlei. We were just as excited as the learners to be there!

Hanolet introduced everyone with the opening speech, which put everyone at ease as they all knew her, she spoke about the programme a little and likened it to ‘starting a fire’, something that could spread and grow quickly! Hanolet got them started, then introduced them to Mr. Nick Van Rensburg from Anglo-Zimele, a division of Anglo-American, who explained the origins of the programme and the collaboration between Nedbank and Anglo as well as the service providers Neosho 119 and Maccauvlei, he went on to congratulate the entrepreneurs for getting this far and told them that ‘as the best of the best’ they now have to show their dedication and wished them all luck in the months to follow. He received a huge round of applause (especially after mentioning how ready he is to assist them with loans, should they complete the course successfully).

The atmosphere was positive, big things have been set in motion!

A slideshow of my photographs played in the background ( a big ‘hooray’ moment for me) while Facilitator Amareza Buys spoke on business creation and the aspects of such, she took the learners through the modules they would receive training in and then it was none other than Mondli Guma who took the floor! Mondli, you should all know by now, has played a huge part in our work so far and he had the task of explaining the contracts to our entrepreneurs! I was worried that this would be lost on the guys and that a few might not sign the contracts due to the strict terms, but Mr. Guma handled it perfectly, explaining the agreements in layman’s terms and even getting a laugh out of the crowd.

People looked a little worried when he mentioned that if they sign and then drop the course mid way they would be liable for the money Maccauvlei had spent on each individual, I was worried that some might not sign, when it finally came down to it there were a few questions, but everyone signed! Relief!!

Next up, guest speaker Zodwa Maleka, a woman who received funding from Anglo to start her business, spoke to our guys, the perfect person to assure and inspire our learners! They had a lot of questions from her loan payments to book keeping! After that we broke for ten minutes for some fresh air and coffee, when we returned, Annie Baptiste, finance facilitator from Nedbank said a few words on what she would be doing for the entrepreneurs over their training period.

Another facilitator Noreen Mcpherson took the people through their study ‘bibles’. After the basic runthrough of their modules we broke for an hours lunch, where myself, Hanolet and Mondli took the opportunity to mingle with the guys and girls and find out how they thought things where going, everyone seemed really impressed and excited for the things to come. We then took some time to prepare a rough press release for Monday, making sure everyone was mentioned and all the details up to this point were included. The classes continued for a while longer and the buses eventually came to pick everyone up! Thanks were given, the sessions ended and plans were made for the following training sessions, a huge thank-you to everyone involved, ANGLO-ZIMELE,NEDBANK,MACCAUVLEI and all the people who took the time to make this such a success!!

Next week Sharpeville starts their training, and after seeing how great everything went today we can’t wait to see how their session goes!!

All in all it was the perfect end to a long week!

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Back into Heidelberg today for the meeting with 'Bra Kid' that we thought was yesterday!
The guys Nickname is Bra Kid, and i can't for the life of me remember his real name, so i'm just gonna stick with it.
Myself and Hanolet spoke to him about his current Co-op and his future business plans, he wants to open up a business selling chickens and related products (eggs etc) he suffered a stroke a while ago that left his left arm completely useless, pretty tragic to see, but he seems to be coping really well! One thing that put me off was the shop he opperates from, its in the middle of a taxi rank, like a small covered parking, flies and dirt and... just think 'unhygienic'.
I guess for these guys it's a matter of 'take what you can get', hopefully with our help a cleaner, healthier premises will be found. Once we'd taken all his and his partners' details, we headed out to Ratanda to find Daniel who wanted us to meet with some friends of his to explain everything.
The directions he gave us almost drove us insane. When, eventually, we found him he told us that our GPS must be broken, we where on the wrong road. Well, that settles it, our trusty GPS must be wrong, no argument. Right. We met the guys (and one woman) but they all seemed really shy! Hanolet had to virtually pry the information out of them, names, numbers, addresses, business ideas the works. These profiles usually take a few minutes per person, or at least per co-operative person. These took forever!! Picture yourself in a tiny room, with one window, seven people, 30 odd degrees outside and having to almost beg them to tell you what they do for a living. One by one.frustrating? you bet.
We eventually got out of there, only to get stuck in traffic on the way back to Edenvale, not cool. We spoke a bit about the up coming Ratanda induction at Maccauvlei this weekend
( i know i said it was next weekend, my bad) Friday is going to be a very,very long day.

Tuesday 9 March 2010

Heidelberg. Or should we be in Sharpeville?
That was the argument of the morning, despite having our very own cell/organiser we had no idea what plans we had made for today! So we went with our gut feeling. Heidelberg it is.
Unfortunately...It was actually Sharpeville. Oh well.
We used the time in Heidelberg to call up a contact who wanted to meet with myself and Hanolet, to discuss our training programme.
The guys name is Wesley, a qualified Boiler maker turned Tattoo and Piercing artist, interesting right? We thought so! However, it turns oout that due to bad business ventures the poor guy is literally blacklisted by every South African bank. Ouch.
We met with him at a small coffee shop and went over all the details, telling him there's not much wecan do until he is in the clear, so it wasn't his lucky day, but some of the conversations we had were great, 18 year old schoolkids wanting their girlfriends names tattooed on their chests. Yeah, now that's smart. I guess if it doesn't turn out well you could always tell your next girlfriend that it was your favourite hamsters name......or not.
Once that was all done we headed through to Sharpeville to meet Mary and drop off an order of about 600 Vuvuzelas,
that wa quick and easy, apart from the fact that Hanolet sent me a message saying "bye, have a nice walk" when i was chatting to some of the Potters from the Old Police Station...i had to run to catch her, She said she wouldn't have left.... i wonder =)

Monday 8 March 2010

Today we were in Springs, last Friday the electricity was finally switched on so we could actually use our laptops for work! Joy!

The guys there seemed a little put out - despite our electrical status.

Not sure what’s going on there…Sharon spoke to a few entrepreneurs regarding their portfolios’, one guy is already talking about his first loan!

Sharpevilles first scheduled intake was cancelled because of the striking going on. Not sure when it has been re-scheduled for but I do know that Ratanda start their training next weekend! Hopefully they keep their strikes on hold ‘till after the FIFA World Cup….

This week sounds like it will be busy….Don’t you just love Mondays!

As this year moves on ( quicker than I like ) you get to see how certain things work out, plans and realisations, It’s not always as expected but so far so good!

Please remember you can post questions and opinions right here or email me! Also check out the new profiles at www.neosho119.com !

Thursday 4 March 2010

Today we held a meeting in Ratanda, myself and Hanolet wanted to meet with some new intakes to get the details on their businesses.
The meeting took place inside an office used by a taxi-business owner, while Hanolet took them through the basic introduction i had the chance to wander around a bit, one thing that caught my eye was a shrine-like display of photos on the wall opposite the entrance, the photographs pictured different cars (used as taxi's?) all destroyed in car accidents! pretty intense!
I wasn't sure if these pictures where part of an awareness campaign or just memorabilia belonging to the taxi owner...but it's like posting 'recent deaths' certificates outside a doctors room.. cant be good for business right?!
During the interviews the subject of Jacob Zuma came up somehow, the people at the meeting all expressing their views on the Presidents....habits. "Him having lots of wives and the things he does...It's just culture, people won't understand.." This is not a political blog and i didn't vote, so i don't really have an opinion.
Once we had explained and recieved all the relative info to the guys attending the meeting we had to drive through to another meeting at the Heidelberg Taxi Rank.
The man we where meeting wanted us to come to him, not the other way round..think it's something to do with 'displaying dominance' or something...?
He's a middle aged African man, relatively well spoken and extremely difficult, thankfully Hanolet has the patience of a brick and deals with these characters better than i ever could!
After satisfying his curiosity and answering the many questions, it was arranged that we would all meet again (at a place he specified) next week to continue with taking the details of his team.
We managed to escape the taxi rank, the car was still there, and headed back to civilization! Some interesting people around, the more time i spend with them the more i wonder if i'll ever fully understand some of them! it's a cultural mixing pot out there! Not sure what's on for tomorrow..but you will know when i do!

Tuesday 2 March 2010

Monday and today where all about handing out the final acceptance letters to the chosen entrepreneurs from Sharpeville and Ratanda, yesterday we did Sharpeville but the Service-Delivery strikes are still happening, it's getting more intense now, people burning tyres and mattresses, barricading the roads...police have stepped in and shots have been fired..but, as exciting as i find all this we cant actually go in to Sharpeville. We delivered the letters to Machobane Mabitle, one of the chosen entrepreneurs, outside of Sharpeville.
Today we went to Ratanda, these guys aren't on strike.. they say they have more discipline...they'll wait until after the World Cup. funny..
We handed out all the letters and even took some details from people interested in the second intake, it's best to keep the ball rolling! Sharpevilles' intake is supposed to start this Friday, but due to the strike things are looking really bleak in the ways of accessing the area safely and starting the programme withoout disturbance..We will just have to see what happens!

Thursday 26 Feb 2010-03-02

Today I was supposed to meet up with Hanolet and go through to Sharpeville,

Unfortunately the people of Sharpeville are currently on strike. The roads in to the location have been closed and apparently it’s getting a bit chaotic there, so I headed out with Sharon instead.

We drove through to Witbank to the water plant I’ve mentioned before.

I got to take a few pictures of the machinery and the process involved in bottling the water, pretty interesting to see! The bottle necks are made first, they kind of look like little test tubes, these are put on a conveyor belt of sorts and heated up slowly, and once they have reached the correct temperature they are placed inside the ‘blower’

A machine that then blows a forceful gust of warm air into the bottle neck/ test tube

The heated plastic gives, filling the chosen mould and creating a completed bottle!

This is a quick process, but things do go wrong, if the plastic is not heated correctly the blower just destroys the little test tube! Bottles also can come out slightly deformed... These are disposed of and the bottles being kept are thoroughly checked for leaks, deformities, discoloration ad so on. The bottles are then sent to the plant to be re-checked and finally filled!

I was disappointed about the Sharpeville strike thing, but today turned out really well,

I got to see an interesting process and understand how it all operates… Hopefully the Strikes let up soon so we can continue our work in Sharpeville!