Skills Development and Income Generating Programme
Skills Development is a holistic programme aimed at developing the natural talent and skills of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in order to provide spiritual support and empower the participants to be able to earn themselves an income with the skills they have learnt.
Our Skills programme runs from three locations, our main one being in Mahlabatini at the Genesis Ikwezi Lamanyuswa Community Centre. We offer beginners and advanced classes in sewing and embroidery, which depending on the level, run for a 1-3 month period two days a week. The course includes business and entrepreneurial skills, which will help participants to be able to start a co-op or their own small business once they have completed the relevant training. We also include daily devotionals which serve to enrich the groups spiritual life, as well as a presentation from one of the Genesis counselors about HIV/AIDS awareness, testing and education.
The second location is the area of Gamalakhe where there is a centre for the disabled. We run a beading workshop here once a month. Each member has a different disability which has its own individual challenges, ranging from blindness to missing digits. This means teaching has to be tailored to suit a variety of physical capability levels. The group are also involved in various other entrepreneurial ventures such as sewing, shoe repairs and phone which they charge community members to use.
The third location is the Genesis Care Centre, where beading classes take place three times a week and usually host between 7 – 15 patients. With the help of volunteers we provide training, beads and other materials and the members are paid for each beaded creation at completion without having to wait for the items to be sold before they benefit financially. The beaded items are then used to create Greeting Cards, Bookmarks, Keyrings and other beautiful crafts. The craft items created are marketed and sold locally and overseas. The activity also serves on a therapeutic level to improve the patients’ fine motor skills which are often affected by the HIV/Aids virus.
The Skills programme is always in need of and very grateful for donations of beads of all kinds, fabric, embroidery cottons and sewing equipment like needles, scissors, pins, measuring tape etc.
To find out more about this project, make a donation or place an order please contact one of our team members:
Mahlabatini & Gamalakhe:crafts@genesiscentre.co.za
Care Centre: Anthea Jones 0827898581 or Sharon 039-6854104
Meet the Team
The Skills Development Team is Lynn Brackley and Thembi Ngwazi
