Sakhisizwe -Building the Nation - Bou Die Nasie

Orms is celebrating the next generation of women in arts through it's new mentorship programme - Orms Circle.. Launching this women's month, Orms strongly believes that belonging to a network of women can be a re-affirming and powerful form of increasing visibility for women Artists. The programme will give one young female-identifying artist the platform to break into the art industry, by giving them access to facilities to help them create a body of work to be exhibited in collaboration with Orms in February 2020. Gemma Mary Sheppard, who is a Social Content Assistant and Photographer came in to speak to us about. She explained how hard it actually is to break into the industry and even once in its still hard to be seen and heard as a female photographer. The industry, like many, is male dominated and that is why this opportunity would benefit the female-identifying artist so much. Gemma Mary Sheppard  The opportunity is available to female-identifying photographer...

The Allan Gray Orbis Foundation was created in 2005 as part of Allan Gray’s vision to make a sustainable, long-term contribution to Southern Africa by nurturing the emerging entrepreneurial potential from the region. To ensure that they nurture the emerging entrepreneurial potential of Southern Africa, they offer 3 programs: scholarship, fellowships and associations. Litha Mkatini spoke to us about these programs and in depth about the scholarship which is now open to all Grade 6 pupils, who are 12 years old in Grade 6. This scholarship offers children the opportunity to be able to take charge of their futures so that they can improve their lives and positively influence the lives of others. The requirements are that the student should show academic excellence, financial need, and be a RSA citizenship. They should also demonstrate: intellectual imagination - creativity, courage and seek to make a difference. The programs Allan Gray Orbis Foundation allow the people that come t...

"We need to be strong and support each other", said Thobeka Mdiza as her advice to women. Thobeka Mdiza is an entrepreneur, self-taught designer and a women who believes in the elevation of other women. She os the owner of To Bead Africa, which is a BEE company that specializes in training, designing, manufacturing, embellishing, marketing, exhibiting and distribution. In 2006 Thobeka was working at a bank but then she left her job to start her business, To Bead Africa. She noticed how some women depended on their partners or someone and wanted to see more women being independent. She then took a decision for them to start making bead wore. This is a skill she had learnt during her childhood in a rural area in the Eastern Cape. Thobeka Mdiza in one of her designs The business started off with her teaching the elderly women, who weren't skilled enough to be hired by companies in Cape Town. As time went by more people became interested in her work and then reache...

Thandeka Louisa Mfinyongo is a musician born and raised in Nyanga East, Cape Town. Mfinyongo’s love and passion for performing arts started at a very young age while at church. In 2017, she graduated with a Performer’s Diploma in Music and in 2018, graduated with an Advanced Diploma in African Music, both from the University of Cape Town. Mfinyongo has performed in various stages including the Baxter Theatre and ArtsCape Theatre. In 2008, she joined a drama, dance and music group called Rainbow Arts Organisation and soon after, sang in the His Favour Gospel choir, which recorded an album in 2013.  In May 2018, Mfinyongo released her first single called Wenza Ngabom and made her debut on local TV station show called Hectic99 where she performed the song. Starting in church, she never really know that she could sing at first. At the beginning she didn't know that she wanted a career in music but then as time went on she realised that this is what she wanted to do. Tha...

Stijn de Leeuw, a child psychologist from the Netherlands, founded Little Lions Child Coaching. He is currently working on his PhD in child psychology, at the University of Cape Town. Little Lions aims to create awareness around mental health in children, by helping children and their parents by offering free mental health workshops focusing on positive emotions, resilience and building confidence.  Too often children are expected to not have any problems or be affected by anything because they are young but the reality is that depression does exist in children too. They often don't know how express how they feel, especially about the really deep things bothering them, which is why Stijn saw the need for this awareness. Stijn de Leeuw They are currently running crowdfunding to be able to buy a mini van so that they can go around and offer these workshops in the township areas, such as Langa, Khayelitsha, etc. These are the most needing areas because in your more privileg...

We had Ncebakazi in studio today. She is a singer and songwriter from Samora Machel, Cape Town. She recently worked on and complete her first single, Thandolwethu. The song has not be released yet but was played on our show during the interview. She will be releasing it together with her video some time before October. Thandolwethu is a love song of assurance and to break away relationship insecurities. Ncebakazi mentioned how difficult it is to get into the music industry but "you have to stay strong an keep pushing", she said. She met her producer after she went for an Idols audition but did nit make it earlier this year. To keep contact with Ncebakazi then follow her on the below: Facebook: Ncebakazi Music Instagram: Ncebakazi_Music For booking you can contact her producer on 0834707840 Ncebakazi

We had Zola Maphila, a strategic career consultant, CV writer and social entrepreneur. She helps clients with being strategic and capitalizing on opportunities to breach the competitive job market. She basically does resume cover letter and LinkedIn optimization also do interview coaching as well as career coaching.  Her mission is basically CV review, so CV review would be basically going through someone's CV just to give them feedback and sort of feedback on how to change it themselves and she also do CV reconstruction so that reconstructing the CV on her side as well as LinkedIn optimization. She finds that a lot of people don't yet understand the power of LinkedIn. The advice that she give to improve LinkedIn profile is to making sure that you have a cover image on your LinkedIn profile. Making sure that you have a headline, making sure that your LinkedIn summaries comprehensive enough and also do not build your LinkedIn summary for where you are now, but ...

We had Lillian Masebenza from Mhani Gingi. Mhani Gingi is a non-profit organization that strives to provide innovative business solutions which are sustainable and profitable and contribute towards alleviating poverty in South Africa. Mhani Gingi uses the Power of the Collective to maximize networking, and tailor-made integrated skills development training according to the collective strengths and skills of the members. The main focus is currently on the province of the Western Cape, specializing in the townships surrounding Cape Town. The name Mhani Gingi comes from a Zulu Xhosa, so Mhani means mother or somebody that cares and Gingi means be industrious don't wait for something don't wait for somebody and start doing something because it starts with you. They started in 2004 and celebrating 15 years since Mhani got started and it's all about taking the experience that she had over the years, the networks that she had worked with their education and put all...

Rizqah Cato is a woman who does as much as she can to for various communities. She is passionate about lending a hand to those who are in need. She uses her social media platform not as a way of bragging but as a way of inspiring others to also do the little they can, with what they have and where they can. Rizqah is currently collecting clothes and donating them to an orphanage, the clothes mostly come from her own wardrobe or her children's, that they no longer need. She also recently helped out in Phumlani, a township in Cape Town, during and after the fires that destroyed many people's homes and left a few traumatized. She is currently working on building her social media accounts to attract a higher following, it is 2019 and social media plays a vital part in incoming generating too; but not just for that, Rizqah wants to be able to inspire and motivate other people to help out in their communities. Rizqah Cato Rizqah also touched on how cyber bullying is real...

We had Dr Corn'e Smith, a dentist. She qualified at the University of Pretoria in 2005. She has special interests in Orthodontics, Full cosmetic reconstructions, and Aesthetic dentistry. Dr Corn'e has over 10 year's experience in doing full reconstructions for people with extended dental trauma or decay and she also has for treating kids and adults with extreme anxiety. According to Dr Corn'e "The most people come to us  for regular check-up so it's our responsibility as dentist to look at there teeth and to look for any cavities when you are experiencing problems and to see how we can potentially treat and also prevent any further damage. I think that a very important part of our job is prevention". The advise that she give is to do a  check-up at least every year and to go to the oral hygienist every 6 months. Some people even go for check-up every 6 months that's great if you wanna do that, but at least once a year. When you go t...

We Nicky Schrire , vocalist, composer and educator. Nicky Schrire is a versatile and inventive vocalist and composer whose work has earned her comparisons to artists like Joni Mitchell, Tori Amos, and Esperanza Spalding. She has performed in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, London, Dublin and South Africa, with musicians ranging from Abdullah Ibrahim, Arno Carstens, and Sibongile Khumalo, to Grammy-nominated pianists Gerald Clayton and Gil Goldstein. " I was a child that always played music in the house, in the car. I watch a lot of musical videos, TCM movie and my mother was incredibly encouraging of her children learning about different art forms . Hence we can play the music ; I just switch from musicals, but the decision to study it came about, because I loved it and I never really considered studying anything else and my parents were very supportive " Nicky Schire. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Cape Town and her Masters Degree...

It is women's month and one of our goals is to represent women and some of the issues they are facing. One of the issues is women not being "allowed" to own their sexuality and be sexual beings, which is why we felt that it was significant to speak to sexologist and sex coach Nicole. Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. Then there is the sexologist that will then give you advice and coaching, which is what Nicole does. sadly though, in South Africa sexology is not taught. We asked Nicole how important self-pleasuring is and she said that, even though she would not say every women should as a rule but she highly advises it as how can you truly know what you would like your partner to do if you don't know what you like. Nicole It is important to have conversations with your partner about sex so that you can say what you like and do not like and also be comfortable enough to speak ...

We had  Spokazi Tati from Oribi Village,  an innovative movement that promotes and supports local social entrepreneurs based in Cape Town and its surrounding townships, driven by social and environmental responsibility. ORIBI VILLAGE’s mission is to enable and connect ideas and individual actions to ignite a collective movement towards social and environmental changes. They are an  incubation program throughout the whole year.They have different programs ,they started last year around mid-August and only had their first intake of social entrepreneurs in September they are launching their third quarter for off applications that carry what's happening now . The concept behind that was really to promote the lifetime of a ruby and constantly goes with the community and grows up habitat the moment it basically Crescent dies with the other relief that it goes with and it's also I think it's native to Southern Africa or Africa in general so that's with them from th...

We had Shona Mcdonald the founder of Thursdayz. Thursdayz designs and manufactures lingerie and swimwear for females 'C cup and up. It was launched in December 2018. They are also currently running a crowdfunding. "Basically we make lingerie and swimwear for women" and she started the brand because she couldn't find any bra's or somewhere that fit her properly that made her feel beautiful. And when she did, it was really  affordable and she felt really bad about herself so she thought if she is feeling this way there must be so many women feeling the same. She studied entrepreneurship and she started working on the brand slowly and she is really pleased to say that they launched their first collection in December and it's going really well and she is super excited about it and it's really beautiful. All of their products are made in Mitchell's plain and Cape Town so they are empowering local development. It is a dying skills as well so it...

Dine With started back in March 2015 in Khayelitsha. It is a platform bridges the gap between townships and cities through conversational dinners in different households in various communities. Sivenathi Thonga came in to tell more about what Dine With is. They started off as they wanted to raise funds for an NPO, HaveFun. Though they have moved away from that, Sivenathi mentioned that if you are looking to collaborated with them you can contact them and they will be more than happy to work something out. They have progressed to having Dine With events in not only Khayelitsha but some other townships in Cape Town and Johannesburg. How it works is that if you want to host a dinner in your home then you let them know and they will send an inspector to come take a look, this can be any kind of home from shack to a  double storey home. Sivenathi Thonga If you are looking to attend then you can go to their website, fill in your details and choose they day you would like d...

We had Jane Mills the social Enterprise Development Manager at NOAH(Neighborhood Old Age Homes). NOAH is an organisation that was established in response to the need for safe and affordable accommodation for the elderly. They have been operating since 1981 and have continued to make sure the elderly do not become victims of loneliness, abuse, illness and depression. NOAH was formed for a need for accommodation for social pensioners. Their work with social pensioners is to provide basic services to their medical home health and happiness home being community based housing at very affordable rent. They've got 12 houses in the Woodstock and the greater Cape Town area. The requirements  as an organisation that they look for is to have to be over the age of 60 then need only to have the social grant as an income.Housing is very limited, the government unfortunately doesn't provide adequate housing for people hence they have a waiting list and there's a very specific...

On Women's Day, 9th August 2019, we had Bonga Kwana in studio, she blessed with an amazing performance and prior to that we had a conversation about her music journey. Bonga is a young black queer women, who is also a singer, songwriter and poet. She has recently made the decision to leave university and focus on her music career, this was not an easy decision for herself and explaining to the parents. Being passionate about what she believes and what she wants to do has been the pulling force and she does not regret the choice. Bonga Kwana singing She is also the brains behind Ramblings of a black queer womxn: In session with Bonga Kwana. This is a platform for music, poetry and art. It's a safe space for queer people to be creative, talk and be their true selves. To find out where she will be performing next or the next Ramblings of a Black Queer Womxn: In session with Bonga Kwana session then follow her on all social media platforms, her handle is @BongaKwana

Bernedette Muthien is a well established South African women for her work (writing and facilitation) on issues of gender equity, nonviolence, and gender-based violence in South Africa and further afield.  She is the author of more than 160 publications some of which has been translated from English into at least 16 different languages. We had a conversation with on societal issues that women are faced with. She encourages the need for us, women and men, to work on ourselves internally and externally. To have self-love so that we as women do not stay in abusive relationships and get into relationships for the sake of just being in one. Bernedette Muthien and Phindiwe Maka She also highlighted how men whom are abusive are humans too, who have been through something too and they need to heal and work on themselves to get ride toxic masculinity. Toxic men need to be aligned with men who are doing better, so that they too can improve.  Bernedette advised that we have ...

We had an interview with Babalwa Bobo and Charnelle Pluim from Ava-Africa. AVA, initiated by Action Appointments Development Recruitment, an agency with almost 20 years’ experience placing development professionals into South African NGOs, was set up to provide one practical solution to the systemic unemployment facing most young South Africans. They started in 2014 and reason why, they actually started is because, they saw the need for people applying for jobs, but they don't have the necessary skills or experiences. They might have degrees diplomas, but still lack the experience if they get employed, hence AVA was born. Ava wanted to bridge that gap between not having the necessary skills so that's why AVA comes in and they have different programs that will help people to gain the necessary skills or experiences. According to  Charnelle  : "the area we grew up people don't have the necessary network so I think that also played a huge role, because people...

Zizipho Mnxakwe is a poet who started out at the very young age of 12. She grew up eNcgobo, Eastern Cape. The coming out of her talent happened at farewell celebration for the principal at her primary school. At first her family didn't quite believe her when she said that she is a poet, but then they heard her perform and realized that she is talented. The poetic gift isn't a stranger in the family, her grandfather was also a poet. She has entered in various competitions and in 2018 she represented Western Cape in a national competition which she won first place in it. She said that you have to push forward through the challenges. To keep in contact with Zizipho follow her on Facebook, her handle is EZamawushe Zizipho Mnxakwe. Zizipho Mnxakwe and Phindiwe Maka

We had an interview with Ludwe Nkomo and Siyabulela Monakali from Ilitha lbantu. Ilitha Labantu was established in 1989 in Gugulethu and their mission is to tackle the issue of domestic violence against women and children.It was the first organisation in a black township in Cape town to provide emotional support, practical advice and education around the problem of violence against women. They discussed their upcoming 30 year anniversary programme lunch that will be toke place on the 9th of August. Ilitha Labantu is a social service and education organisation that provides services such as counseling services, free counseling services and free legal advice to women and children survivors of abuse .They are obviously based in the townships and it was formed by women often of the Township in poker later and based in the Township community where their services are mostly needed. Their head office is where it was formed and they have satellite offices around South Africa.They al...

We had an interview with Abigail Florence from Elves At Work, an organisation that offers sewing programs . Elves at work is a   group of sewing experts who are passionate about teaching people how to exercise their creativity and how they do that is they offer basic sewing workshops and a program that aims to inspire creativity design and entrepreneurship. Their   training program has been operating since 2013 out of their  studios in Salt River. Prior to that they offered pop-up classes at various locations in and around Cape Town. They've been running classes for just over a decade and has trained hundreds of people in basic sewing over  this time. Their flagship one day basic sewing program, which was their first product, is a 4-hour basic skills workshop where people can learn the basics of sewing and how to operate a machine. Abigail Florence Abigail said, " So, currently in our basic sewing class, the first project is a scatter cushi...

On 2nd, August, 2019, we had in studio Nicky September, author of Earthina and Kairo-Global warriors, a children's graphic novel with an environmental message to teach kids about the importance of taking care of our earth. The book tells a story of  t wo 11 year old children and how they find out what the purpose of Earth is, on their  first day of school . Basically the lead character  Earthina   came home to find a book from her grandfather. When she opened the book and she realized that it had spells and potions in it, so she goes on a journey of discovering what her purpose is on Earth and at the end she realizes that she wants to be a global warrior for the Earth .  Nicky September The book teaches kids about the preservation of the earth but in a fun and exciting way because   you don't want to bombard them with facts that they get bored after a while. Nicky wanted to start movement and when she heard the words 'global warriors',...