Sat, 10 May 2008
Mlauli Morris Nojoko, a man who became a Sinzio client in 2007, collapsed and died suddenly on 30 April and was buried today.  He leaves behind a wife and older son from a previous marriage and 2 young children from his current marriage.  The older son, Khayalethu, is one of the directors of Sinzio in Kwa Nobuhle.  We very much enjoyed our associations with Mr. Nojoko when we were there and are greatly saddened by his passing.

Wed, 27 Feb 2008
We received the following exciting email from our senior director in Kwa Nobuhle:
Jim

well Jim I am doing fine on my side hoping that you are doing fine too.  About Sinzio I just called Punguzwa today to meet with with him tomorrow so that we can take the bank statement.  I have started a personl loan business last two weeks and I have 3 customers who have paid me back in full.  The business gives small personal loans of about R 20 -R 200; I have about 18 clients already.

I have given my mother the business of selling sweets, Ice, Fish and Cigaretts and it is doing very well.  I am also planning together with Nosizwe to open a printing business in Gunguluza where brother Matebese used to stay.  We are going to need about R 1000 start up cost for the business since I am going to buy the lazer printer from my pocket so as to minimize the cost of openning this business.

We have a lot of potential clients that come to workplace regulary, so opening this business will attract them easly and quickly.  We are going to start with two computers, one scanner and two printes for now.  We are planning to have a fax and photocopying  facility in future. By next month this business one way or another should up and running.
 

Sat, 24 November 2007
We were saddened this week to learn of the death of Gwendolynne Kotaan, one of Sinzio's early clients, on Saturday, 17 November.  We met her in 2002 when we moved to Port Elizabeth, and when we went back, she expressed an interest in borrowing money to help her with a sewing business.  She made a small loan and paid it back, but by this time was suffering from cancer, and found it difficult to pursue her business.  Our hearts go out to her daughter, Rozaye, now about 10 years of age, who has gone to live with Gwen's sister.

Mon, 12 November 2007
We have updated the statistics to the end of October.

Fri, 17 August 2007
We are reading a fascinating book on microcredit, "A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and the Business Solution for Ending Poverty" by Phil Smith & Eric Thurman.  It is a brand new book, with the Foreword written by "Muhammed Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner", which he only received in October last.
    The book suggests a new metric for evaluating results-oriented giving, "Cost-per-life changed" or "CPL".  We thought that was a good metric, and is much easier to calculate than the individual-related metrics we originally were using on our Results Page, and which we had to drop after we left South Africa because of the difficulty of getting reasonably accurate statistics.  We have added this metric to our results page.

Tue, 17 July 2007
We haven't updated the News page for some time as there has been no news, other than a statistics update at the end of April which we failed to post.  However, we have now updated the statistics to the end of June; please see the Results Page.
    We note that the number of visits to the web site has passed 1600.

Fri, 24 March 2007
The number of visits to this web site passed 1500 this week.  Unfortunately, very few visitors view more than the home page.

Sun, 18 March 2007
We have received updated statistics to the end of February; please see the Results Page.  Note that an additional R400 has been paid against outstanding loans during January and February.  And we have updated information from Cikizwa Peyi; she has been invited by one of her former teachers to go to Durban; in return for helping with housework, the teacher will sponsor her enrolment in computer school.
     Please note also that our email addresses have changed effective this week: our new addresses are jeanbodie@shaw.ca and jim41@shaw.ca.

Fri, 16 February 2007
We have been contacted by a young woman from Madagascar that we met in South Africa.  She wants to become a pediatrician, and is looking for sponsors to help her pay her school fees.  A friend has already offered her plane fare if she decides to study in the U.S.  If you, or anyone you know, might be able to join a sponsor group to help her, please contact us.

Wed, 10 January 2007
We have received updated statistics to the end of December; please see the Results Page.  We also received the wonderful news that one of our first business clients, Cikizwa Peyi (sewing business) successfully completed her matriculation examinations.  Way to go, Cikizwa!  We are currently waiting for word on where she wishes to go next.

Fri, 10 November 2006
We received updated statistics from South Africa this week; please see the Results Page. 

Fri, 13 October 2006
We were thrilled today to learn that Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their work in advancing economic and social opportunities".  What a wonderful thing for micro-credit!

Wed, 11 October 2006
We received updated statistics from our directors this week; they have been posted on the Results Page.  Because of bank security policies, account statements cannot be mailed out but must be picked up in person; originally, all three authorized signatories on the account had to appear at the same time to pick it up, but now, apparently, the bank will provide it if two show up.  But one of the directors now lives and works in Port Elizabeth, and another doesn't readily make himself available, so the statements do not get picked up in a timely manner.  Hence, the first update since May. 

Fri, 18 August 2006
The number of visitors to the Sinzio web site passed 1300 this week!

Sun, 6 August 2006
Severe storms hit nearly all of South Africa this week, bringing heavy snow and cold to the interior, and heavy rains to areas along the coast, especially the Western and Eastern Cape coasts.  Humansdorp, about 30 minutes from Uitenhage, received 300 mm of rain in a 24-hour period!  Port Elizabeth got about 130 mm.  At least one person was killed; many people had to be rescued from trees and rooftops.  Fortunately, none of our friends and Sinzio clients were seriously affected, as far as we know at this time.  Some friends sent us this picture of one of the bridges (the Cuyler Street bridge) connecting Uitenhage and Kwa Nobuhle.  Normally, the water is some 10-15 feet below the bridge and looks stagnant.  (Unfortunately, we don't have a 'before' picture to show you.)

looking south; Kwa Nobuhle is on the other side of those hills

Fri, 21 July 2006
Sinzio this week marks the passing of Sheryl Dee Amegatcher, 1945-2006.  Mrs. Amegatcher's hand-sewn dolls were the catalyst that set the Sinzio project in motion.  We express our sincere sympathies to her family and close friends.

Fri, 14 July 2006
We received letters this week from two Sinzio clients, Mrs. Jafta whose house is finished (a picture of the house is in the photo album) thanking us for the hand up Sinzio gave her, and Thembinkosi Dondashe, who we helped get started at a job with Tavcor Audi in Port Elizabeth, but whose contract came to an end at the end of June.  He wants us to help him find work abroad (possibly in Canada but not necessarily), and we had to tell him how difficult it is to find satisfactory positions in other countries.

We have also posted a picture sent to us by friends in Port Elizabeth of Mrs. Mtshotana's house which is under construction.  We are so happy for the progress that is being made in South Africa, and specifically for the improvements in the living conditions of our Sinzio clients.

We can't thank enough those who contributed to the project so that some people could be assisted.

Wed, 14 June 2006
New statistics have been posted to the end of May.

Fri, 2 June 2006

Sinzio in South Africa is still having trouble with its computer.  If anyone would like to contribute to the purchase of a new computer system, we would be happy to help facilitate.

Fri, 12 May 2006
KSPS TV, Spokane, has confirmed that "Small Fortunes: Microcredit and the Future of Poverty" will be shown on Friday, June 9 and Sunday June 11, at midnight.  Set your recorders!

The directors advised us this week that "We have decided to start applying the group rule for loans meaning people will have to group themselves to get a loan from us, we have limited funds and people are coming in numbers."  We're not sure what kind of numbers, but it appears that the directors are re-implementing the original idea (used by the Grameen Bank and other micro-lenders, and that we intended to use, but didn't apply in all cases because of our limited time frame) of requiring prospective clients to organize themselves into mutually-supportive groups, which has proven to be effective in helping people realize success in their businesses and paying their loans (if the first borrower fails, the others in the group are unable to borrow - a good incentive to ensuring the first borrower is successful!).

(Fri, 5 May 2006)
By reformatting the hard drive and re-installing Windows, the computer we left with our directors is working again, "better than when you first bought it", according to Khaya, which is good news.  They are also actively involved in contacting clients, renegotiating loan repayment schedules, etc.  We are so pleased with their attention to the project.

The documentary video is almost finished, ready for showing Sunday evening.

(Fri, 28 April 2006)
The web site hit count passed 1200 this week.  No Google, but respectable, nevertheless.

Received updated stats from our directors this week (sending the attachment was plagued by technical problems).  Unfortunately, it appears that of the 16 current clients, only four are making a real effort to repay their loans.  However, several of the loans have been completely repaid; at the peak, Sinzio had 22 clients.

(Fri, 21 April 2006)
We started hearing from our directors again this week, which was really appreciated.  They have some updated stats for us but are running into technical problems sending the spreadsheet as an attachment.  The new stats will be posted as soon as they are received.

We have been invited to make a presentation on the Sinzio project on Sunday, 7 May, 2006, 7 pm, at the Sherwood Park Chapel, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2090 Sherwood Drive, Sherwood Park (corner of Sherwood Drive and Base Line Road).  All are welcome.

(Mon, 17 April 2006)
We learned last week that the computer we left with our directors is "in" for repairs.  It is unfortunate that it has packed it in already.  We would liked to have purchased a new computer, but that wasn't possible with the funds we had at our disposal.  Hopefully, they will be able to get it fixed soon so that regular correspondence can resume.

(Sat, 8 April 2006)
We have finally added some new photos to our photo album.  We didn't want to do it while we were in SA because of the expense of uploading that much data.

(Wed, 29 March 2006)
After being without access to the Internet for 3 weeks (seems like an eternity; we were going through withdrawal, and it was horrible!), we are back online.

We continue to get positive news from our directors; they are putting themselves body and soul into this project; we are so proud of them!  However, we are still waiting for a summary update.  They need a statement from the bank, and (can you believe this), the bank won't mail out a statement, and won't give it over the counter unless all three account holders present themselves at the same time to get it.
 

(Wed, 8 March 2006)
Word of the Sinzio project is getting around.  The directors were approached this week  by a lady with a sewing business that wants to expand.  We are waiting for details.

We arrive back in Canada on Tuesday, after a 13-day visit with Jean's family in England.  The first few days here were sunny and cold.  Yesterday and today have been rainy and cold.  Well, okay, not quite so cold.


(Wed, 22 February 2006)
Not much project news.  The directors wrote to tell of a loan they made for transport to a new job until the first pay cheque.

The Spires invited us to take some time off at their holiday flat in Hermanus, so we drove here Sunday afternoon and have been relaxing and doing a little sightseeing.  The holiday has been a bit marred by power failures two or three times a day since we arrived.  Cape Town was completely without power Sunday morning; no traffic lights were working, but everyone treats each traffic light as a four-way stop. Tthat works well on a Sunday morning when traffic is relatively light, but CT was still without power Monday morning (we had power in Hermanus) and according to the TV news reports, chaos reigned everywhere.

Our power failed a little after 10 last night, so we took advantage of it to go out and view the night sky.  We have never seen anything like it.  It was the brightest sky, with the most brilliant stars, we have ever seen.  It was even possible to see some nebulae without the aid of binoculars or a telescope.  Awesome!


(13 February 2006)
Leaving PE today.  Spent last week making our final visits to most of our "clients" and saying goodbye.  We also spent considerable time showing the directors how to keep the books, and helping with the computer.  We have now decided that dial up access is more expensive than wireless, once the capital costs (about $200) are taken care of.  The monthly cost of R100 for the Internet access provider and the phone line provider will buy, even without a discount, 50MB of downloaded data.  At the maximum discount, it will buy 200MB, which is a lot of surfing and email!

During the week, our clients paid back over R500 of their loans, without pressure from us.  The stats to the end of January have been posted.


(8 February 2006)
Okay, things are back to normal!  :)


(7 February 2006)
Due to my email address change in September and subsequent confusion about how the domain renewal was to be handled, this website went offline for a few days.  For that, we apologize.  Also, the mobile data card has stopped working for reasons that we haven't yet figured out, so until we get that sorted, updates will be more difficult to make, and therefore, more sporadic.  We will post a note when things are back to "normal".


(3 February 2006)
The highlight of the week was a meeting with our knitter, who sold several scarves and two jerseys in January, for total sales of over R700.  Imagine: those sales of scarves and knitted wool jersey's were made in the heat of the summer!  (It hit 39 and 37 this week.)  Amazing.  She said she was ready to pay her loan off completely, and that she would still have enough money to buy more wool.

One of our new clients showed us the sign she had made and paid R200 for.  The wood would have cost R6 (we priced it out for our ice cream signs); he may have used another R5 worth of paint to draw a couple of pictures of her crocheted hats and bags and the lettering, all on on the bare 1/8" plywood.  It was a poor job, even for an amateur.  We probably didn't make her day with our criticism of the sign.  It represented about 40% of her loan.

One of the ice cream businesses has packed it in; the owner got a job a couple of weeks ago and while he was away, he had some older children taking care of it.  However, they were eating too much of the ice cream, and neglected to put one tub back into the freezer and it melted.  So he lost some money on that.  He is going to try to sell the business (the sign, scoops, cones and left-over toppings) to someone else.

We got Internet access set up for the Sinzio directors this week, but there are a few bugs that need to be worked out.  And because the phone company charges for each call, the cost during the day is prohibitive.  Using ADSL is also very expensive as a second phone line has to be put in at a cost of about R400 (about $75) and rented for R279 per month (about $50) in addition to the R175 ($30) monthly cost levied by the Internet access provider.  It would drain the Sinzio fund in no time.  So access will remain dial-up for the foreseeable future (R65 per month, about $12) plus the cost of the individual phone calls.  Khaya will have about 3 months to try to make the business pay for itself.  But having to restrict access to evenings, weekends and public holidays will be a serious constraint on potential profitability.  However, he can still do CVs and other documents, and when he gets the donated scanner working, he will be able to provide faxing and copying services.

Some of our clients have started paying their loans by deposit directly into the bank account, which will take a load off the directors.

One more full week until we leave.  It will be a very busy week!


(27 January 2006)
We opened our local bank account on Monday; one director wasn't there, so we opened a joint account with the other two; we will add the third later.  We had hoped to be able to open a chequing account, but a prospective chequing account holder has to present a pay slip to show that he has a job.  However, we learned later in the day that the reason the third director wasn't there was because he started a job that day, so when he has a payslip under his belt, maybe we can convert our account to a chequing account, so that things are done in a business-like manner.

We also started two new sewing businesses this week, one belongs to a lady about 58 years old and the other to a young woman, her mother and aunt.  We believe both businesses will do well.

We have started our packing!  18 days until we leave here, 46 days until we arrive home!


(20 January 2006)
On Tuesday afternoon, we held a meeting to which we had invited all of our clients and where we introduced the three directors who will be assuming responsibility for the fund when we leave.  We had 14 clients and prospective clients in attendance, and felt that it was an excellent meeting.  One of the clients came from Rosedale, a considerable taxi ride from Kwa Nobuhle.  We paid Mrs. Mtshotana, who we are trying to get set up in a baking business to bake some cookies, and we supplied some soft drinks for the group.

Also on Tuesday, we helped a lady start up a new business (new for us, an expansion of an existing business for her).  She has been crocheting various aricles for a time and does beautiful work (we will be bringing one of her creations home with us).  She wanted the money to purchase some signage to advertise her business, and to purchase wool.

On Friday, we loaned money to help start Zinzi's new sewing business, consisting of Zinzi, her mother and aunt.  They have all sewn in the past and only lack a machine and supplies to start their business.

We met with another lady who will begin a sewing business next week; she needs an electric machine to replace her ancient hand machine, as well as some fabric to work with.

We also met on Friday with a lady who wants to set up a spaza shop (a home-based neighborhood convenience store), but she still has some research to do to demonstrate that she can make a profit so that she can pay back the loan.

We are very impressed with the calibre of our three directors.  They know what questions to ask and how to evaluate the probability that the individuals will be able to pay back their loans. On Monday, we will open a bank account for Sinzio. We will also connect them to the Internet using the computer we installed last week, so that we can more easily stay in touch after we leave.  Hopefully, they will be able to generate enough income from selling computer access and other computer services to pay the ongoing connection charges.


(13 January 2006)
We were excited to learn this week that of the 6 people who interviewed for jobs at a new fast food franchise opening in Uitenhage, 5 were asked to come in for training.  If they pass their training exam, they will be offered positions.  We don't really know how many people were interviewed, but we learned that 10 positions were available, so it could be that half of them will come from the Employment Resource Centre, if they all receive appointments.

We completed our entrepreneurial course with Zinzi's group and completed a business plan.  Before getting them set up, however, we are inviting them to attend a general meeting of all our "clients" and the new directors, to introduce the directors, talk about successes and failures, and to generally share information that will benefit everyone.  We also want to stress to everyone the importance of paying back the loans, so that others can benefit as they have benefitted.

We moved the fabric this week from the shed in Uitenhage to the home of one of the directors, who will supervise its distribution.  Approximately 50% of the original shipment is left, mostly smaller pieces that can be made into skirts and children's clothing.

We drove into PE on Thursday and purchased (cheap, about $60) a working sewing machine for Sidwell Mconi.  He has an appliance repair business, and will take it apart, learn how it works, and hopefully become a local resource for the sewing businesses we have set up, or will set up in the time we have left, when they need repairs or service on their machines.  It may also allow him to expand his own business, as there are many sewing machines in Kwa Nobuhle.  The sewing machine is not a loan but an investment in the potential success of  the sewing businesses we have established.  Until Sidwell feels competent, the businesses will rely on two competent sewing machine repair persons we have found in Uitenhage.

We also took delivery of a computer this week, which will be used to enable us to maintain email contact with the directors.  They will also be able to use it for a computer services business (CVs and other documents, and internet access.  If we can get drivers for the free scanner we were given, they will also be able to send faxes.).


(6 January 2006)
Started a new sewing group this week: a young woman, her mother and aunt.  Interestingly, the young woman's name is Zinzi.  Close, very close.  She has sewing skills but no machine and therefore no business.  She aspires to be a clothing designer.  We gave them an introduction to Sinzio and and an introduction to running a business, using the Stephen Gibson book of case studies, "Where There Are No Jobs".

We have also selected our directors, Bongani, Max, and Khaya, who will operate the fund when we leave, and had an introductory directors' meeting.  As partial compensation for their commitment, we have set up Max and Bongani with the ice cream business, and will set up Khaya in a computer services business.  They all felt that would be adequate compensation, and of course, if they can grow the fund through additional donations and service charges, it could eventually start paying them a decent wage.

Doesn't seem like much, does it, but in between NEW news, we worked hard on the old news, collecting on previous loans, consulting with our clients on their businesses, helping one of our driver trainees move to the next step, etc.


(30 December 2005)
While we didn't do much about setting up new businesses this week (two people who have prepared acceptable business plans wanted to wait until January to get started), we received a call Tuesday morning about a job prepping new cars at an Audi dealership in PE.  We sent out several text messages alerting people, and sent a neighbor over to talk to a young man without a phone (his family is at least 11 people living on about $230 per month).  We met with the young man (#1) and heard from another person we had contacted (#2), and advised the HR person at the dealership that they would be coming for a job interview the next morning.  There was only one job available and #2 got it, to start Thursday.  Thursday morning we got a call saying that an hour after he showed up for work, a position opened up in the Parts department and he was hired on the spot, with two and a half times the salary of the car prepping job!  So they offered #1 the car prepping job.  We were thrilled to see that happen.  #2  was able to pay for his own transport to the interview and to work, but #1 had no money, so we advanced him the money to get to the interview, and are advancing him the money to get to work until he gets paid.  Before advancing the funds for the daily trip (about $5 return), we called the HR manager and asked if the company could advance him money for transport against his paycheque.  We were told no, but they agreed to pay him weekly instead of monthly until he has enough of a reserve in hand to pay his own way for a month.  So we will be loaning him his transport money until next Friday (6th) when he gets paid, then he will start paying us back over the next six weeks, which will leave him able to pay his own transport, and will leave him with enough money to buy a decent lunch each day and have enough left over to help his family.

On Wednesday, Jean began teaching the girls in the sewing co-op dressmaking using patterns.  They are excited about making their own skirts to wear to church on Sunday.

A Happy New Year to all!


(23 December 2005)
We had a few people that looked at the Harry Potter duvet cover on eBay but no bids.  Bedding is turning out to be harder to sell than we anticipated.  But the sewing co-op still brought in about R500 in December selling Christmas stockings and miscellaneous other Christmas-related items.

With Christmas at the end of the week, it was a lighter week this week.  We closed the Employment Centre for the rest of the month since only one person came in on Thursday last week and new job ads are drying up as well.

Two more businesses began this week.  As we said last week that we would, we took two young women to Jeffrey's Bay on Monday where they purchased R1130 worth of clothing items at a "factory" shop; they think they will be able to sell everything for as much as R2000.  We bumped into one of the young women the next afternoon, and she said nearly everything was sold (but then, we got the same answer today), so we still don't have any solid numbers.

On Wednesday, we got a call from an excited young man who has been working hard to set up a "jikeleza" business.  A "jikeleza" is a car that drives around the township, tooting its horn like mad, offering short trips to anyone who needs a lift.  The trips are normally to the taxi rank or the strip mall, but may be from the main set of roads, which run in a large circle around the centre of the township, to another destination in the township.  We have not loaned him any money yet, but have given encouragement and moral support, and wrote up a business plan, based on his basic plan and some research we did, as well as a cash flow forecast.  The exciting thing is that the gross income we projected in the cash flow statement has been borne out by his actual experience driving around.  He initially wanted to borrow money to purchase a good quality used car but it was far more than we could lend, and the banks would not lend to him (he has full blown AIDS and only a month ago looked like he probably wouldn't make it to Christmas; his turn around is incredible).  We encouraged him to make a deal with his aunt, who has a car she wants to sell, and the same day that we last met with him, she let him start using the car.  He has already made enough money, between breakdowns, to fix it up.  Hopefully, he will be able to keep it running long enough to build up sufficient reserve to buy a decent car, or get a loan.

On Tuesday, we spoke with one of the proprietors of the ice cream business; they are selling 3 5-litre tubs of ice cream every two days, and are making an average profit of R30 per tub.  That is a profit of R45 per day, or over R1100 per month.  Still not a great wage, but a lot better than zero.  And you know what he said to us?  "There is hope."  

That brings the total number of business startups that we have been involved with to 8.


(16 December 2005)
Our 3G/GPRS card arrived from England (we paid about 1/4 the price we would have paid in South Africa for it) so we now have on-demand, if slow, access to the Internet and our email.  (No pictures, please.  Or if you want to send us pictures, have us acknowledge that you are sending them so that we can go to our ADSL source when downloading them.)

The ice cream business got off to an excellent start; 50 sales in the first 2 days; they have been buying 10 litres of ice cream a day all week, that was up to 15 today.  Not enough for a trip to Europe, but a good start, nevertheless.  And the sign is very nice, using the Kwa Nobuhle standard.  We will be posting a picture when it is developed.

Did you check out the pictures of some of the products that have been made by the sewing co-op?  We posted the Harry Potter duvet cover and pillowcase set on eBay this week (search for "Harry Potter duvet" and see what comes up), to test that as a possible outlet for some of their wares.  If it seems like a way to sell, some of the products from some of the other businesses might find a marketing outlet there.  But probably not the ice cream.

We also met with two young women who wish to start up a buying business, buy retail merchandise at factory shops, and talked about what would be involved.  We will be taking them to Jeffrey's Bay, about 1 hour west of here, on Monday so they can purchase their first stuff, at the Billabong outlet.  (It will also be a welcome break for us, and will hopefully include a wade in the ocean.)

This post is short, but believe us, we were VERY busy this week, helping at the Employment Centre and meeting with existing borrowers.


(9 December 2005)
Helped start two new businesses this week.

The first was a gardening business for a lady who has turned her entire back yard into a very productive garden; she has been working her garden with borrowed tools, so we bought her a spade, fork and rake, a couple of hand tools, and a garden hose so she can more easily do her watering.  She also wants to sew, so we made a deal that when she gets her current loan paid back, we will help her buy a sewing machine.

The other business is selling ice cream in the neighborhood.  However, the competition is stiff; people are selling ice cream in the  community just a few cents above cost.  However, we thought it was worth a try.  And it doesn't necessarily have to be just ice cream.  It could also be an outlet for Mrs. Mtshotana's baked goods, and probably some other stuff.  That might provide some competitive advantage.  The other competitive advantage is that with the resources available to the business, the new business doesn't need to run out of ice cream, as the nearest competitor had when we went to buy some to check it out.

We started a second person on a course to acquire a driver's license, to hopefully increase his employability.  However, when, or if, he gets the license, obtaining that first driving job will probably be a major hurdle.

We also managed to provide a job referral, through the Employment Resource Centre, that resulted in an older lady getting a job as a cook at a restaurant.  That is five placements in the 6 weeks the ERC has been open.

The sewing business we helped start 2 weeks ago is going well.  She has lots of orders and made her first payment on her loan today.

We also received a donation from Canada this week; that is the third donation we have received since we left.


(2 December 2005)
The carnival sales were better than Children's Day (R140, about $27) but still a disappointment.  So we have decided that sewing tables are not the way to sell.  Word of mouth and direct orders are probably the way to go.  Jean has also suggested Tupperware-type parties, so we will probably try at least one of those before we leave.  So the score for these 3 girls is: R230 selling from stall tables, R500 selling directly (mostly friends and senior missionaries so far).  Click here to see some of their early work.

Typed up a business plan for a jikeleza business that one man wishes to start.  A jikeleza is a kind of informal taxi or cab service that drives around the township picking up people and dropping them off.  By township standards, the jikeleza owners do very well.  However, raising the money for that first car will be a problem; the most we could help with would be about 10%.  And some of the jikeleza owners are slave owners.  The brother of the woman that we set up in a sewing business last week approached me this week when I was over there wanting to know if I could loan him money so he could buy his own car.  He has been working for another jikeleza owner, driving 14 hours a day, 5 days a week, for R150 (less than $30) per week plus his meals.  He packed it in with his boss when his boss started demanding that he deliver the same receipts on weekdays as his boss gets on weekends.

We also reviewed three other business plans, but one is for some friends in Zimbabwe, too far away, and another requires too much capital, and we are sceptical about the projected sales volume anyway.

We also started helping another person get his driver's license.  He currently has a job digging trenches but it is hard work for a 48-year-old and again, he is being terribly exploited.

We had such a wonderful treat on Tuesday; one of the first group of sewing girls came to the Employment Resource Centre wanting to know if we could loan her some money for some shoes and take her into town to get them.  Fortunately we had just the evening before delivered three aprons the girls had made, and were able to hand her R150 and tell her that she could buy her own shoes and pay for her own taxi, if that is what she wanted to do with the money.  Before we left the Centre, she came back to show us the shoes she had bought.  She was so excited!  She is 22 years old, and it is probably the first time in years, maybe the first time in her life, that she has had money to spend on herself.  It was pretty rewarding for us.

We also started a new person on our entrepreneurship course; we would like to get her into a group.


(25 November 2005)
The chocolate chocolate chip muffins were less than successful because of having to use a stove that wasn't level and that had the broiler element on at first.  But I saw Mrs. Mtshotana in the ShoprRite mall this morning doing some shopping (on a day when she normally cooks fish).  The fact that she can be shopping on her fish day without any money from us must be a sign of success.

Today and tomorrow, the first group of sewing girls have a stall at the Uitenhage Carnival, which includes midway rides and a large number of food and other concessions.  There is a lot of traffic, and I think we can probably expect a better sales result this time.

Reviewed a couple of business plans this week.  Also saw a couple of people that have been attending the employment resource centre get jobs as cashiers at a Spar (grocery) store.  They won't make much money, as transport costs will eat half their wages, but they will get experience which they should be able to leverage into better paid positions.  There are many cashier positions being adertised at R2000 to R2500 ($400-$500) per month.  Unfortunately, that represents a pretty good wage for people living in the townships.

Got another sewing business on the way Thursday.  She already had a sewing machine but it wasn't working properly so we had it serviced for R80, and then took her shopping for supplies.  So her loan is quite small.  And  her first customer was waiting  when we got back from the shopping trip!  We also took with us another young woman to buy yarn for a knitting business.  She started with one of the sewing groups but sewing wasn't really something she wanted to do.  So that is two new businesses started this week.  That brings the number of businesses that we have been involved with to some degree to 5.


(18 November 2005)
This week, Jean taught a lady to make chocolate chip cookies; she made 30 bags with 6 cookies in each bag (7 if they are small).  She will try to sell each bag for R5, or R1 for single cookies, and we will see how the market behaves.  There is much more profit in the cookies than in her fish, popcorn or repackaged biscuits.  On Monday, Jean will teach her how to make chocolate chocolate chip muffins.  If we can find a market that will enable her to sell her daily bakery production, she should be able to make her family  completely self-sustaining.  It will probably take another few weeks before we can definitely put  a stamp of approval on the business.

One of the ladies that we are helping to grow her business has made Jean a traditional outfit from pieces of the donated fabric.

We also gave two more entrepreneurial instruction sessions to the groups that we started that were mentioned in the 11 November post.


(11 November 2005)
We have removed the "The Opportunities" page, since it threatened to become a privacy issue, and some of the people we are trying to help may be embarrassed.  However, we have added a "Statistics" page so that people can see the current status of the Sinzio.com project, along with the kinds of projects Sinzio.com is sponsoring.

The Children's Day sale on 5 November was a disappointment.  The Child Welfare group (not a government organization), which sponsored the event, only sold 5 stalls.  The weather was poor and while several people stopped to admire the quilts, Christmas stockings and other items, no one was spending that kind of money.  We did, however, sell about R90 worth of the costume jewellery that was donated along with the fabric, so the girls applied half to their loan and took half as "wages" for the day.  The following week, however, they sold about R220 worth, about 2/3 of which went against the loan, and the other third was used to buy some additional supplies for orders they have received, and for their first clothes mending job.  This group has been offered, for free, a stall at Uitenhage's major carnival and exhibition, thanks to a friend who apparently has an 'in' with the carnival committee.  If we had purchased the table ourselves, it would have cost R500.  Hopefully, the carnival will be blessed with better weather and people will be spending money.

During the latter part of October, we were asked by a few people for help in connecting with jobs they had found; when the topic of an Employment Resource Centre in KwaNobuhle arose, Jim (what was he thinking?) volunteered to head it up until a permanent director could be appointed.  However, we have learned that nearly all the jobs are in Port Elizabeth and it costs hundreds of rands per month, often half as much as the job pays, for transport.  However, the assignment is temporary, and a few people may benefit.  According to a news item last week, 1,000 new jobs are being created in South Africa every day.  The bad news is, a person needs 3 of them to survive!

We have started two new groups, one a single family that includes 4 adults, a boy about 12 and a baby.  The other group is a group of 10 women, all of whom have business ideas that they would like to pursue.


(24 October 2005)
Your donations purchased the first sewing machine last week for the group of young women that have been sewing so hard in preparation for Children's Day.  The girls agreed that all the proceeds from the sale of the items that they have been working on will go first to retire the loan for one of the girls, who will take possession of the machine.  They, and their mother will continue to work with the young woman who received the loan.

We are also very involved with assisting people to overcome the small and sometimes larger obstacles to accepting employment.  Some people have talked with us regarding training such as truck driving licenses and we have spent time looking into all that this involves.

Mrs. Mtshotana is still buying fish and cooking and selling it on Fridays and Saturdays and we believe that she has now found a lending institution in South Africa that will help her to increase that business to something more profitable.  Her son is busy working on a design for a solar oven for her to cook other items while she is cooking the fish over an open fire.  Her working conditions up on the windy hill where their shack is located are very poor but she really cooks up some delicious fish.  She also cooks and sells popcorn at 20 cents a bag, that is one fifth of a rand or 4 cents Cdn.  She buys cookies and divides the bag into smaller ones and sells these at 10 cookies for 1 rand.  Jim is trying to help her to work out her profit and loss by keeping proper records.

Jean will be teaching quilting to a group of women next month if all goes well with getting the quilt frame made.  From this group of women another smaller group will be chosen to start learning machine sewing and hopefully very soon after another sewing machine will be purchased and another person will be on their way with a small business.  We do not want to saturate a close community with sewing businesses and put people in competition with one another, so we hope to spread out a little wider with the next group.

(14 October 2005)
After a little over a week of sewing, the first sewing class has completed a large number of items of high quality for the sale on November 5.  The students are excited and so are we.  They are looking forward to being able to make some of these items for themselves.

We also began a new training class this week, using case studies from Stephen W. Gibson's book, "Where There Are No Jobs, Vol 3".  (Many thanks to him for permission to use these great teaching materials.) The series of books has grown out of Mr. Gibson's experiences teaching entrepreneurial principles at the "Academy for Creating Enterprise" in Cebu, Philippines.  

Our business training course is still under development but is gradually taking shape.  Hopefully, it will be finished by the time we leave!

After the first training class, we made our first loan to one of the students, a woman who already sews and who wanted to buy some of the fabric.  We sold her one bag on condition that it be paid for by November 5.

The previous week, we were both sick in bed most of the week with some kind of flu – Jim's main problem was coughing; Jean also had headaches and fever.  But we went down to the beach for some sea air that Saturday (when we were starting to feel a little better) and maybe that did the trick.  We were back at work on Monday, despite the occasional coughing jag.

 We have found a couple of desperately poor families that we think will be able to benefit from the Sinzio project – one is featured on this website; we still have to meet with the other family.  And there are some young women with no visible means of support that are interested in sewing as a means of jump starting a better life.

We finished sorting all the fabric on Saturday; it is now in 62 numbered clear plastic bags and we have a key to it so that we can, hopefully, find what we want when we want.  There is a “Children’s Day Festival” here in Uitenhage in early November so we have rented a table (actually, we have to supply our own table) to sell stuff at, so we will start preparing for that.  It will promote Sinzio, give some people some sewing experience, and allow us to determine what some things might sell for.

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