A little community project in Bedford that started as part of a research paper is now feeding at least 40 families, thanks to the tenacity of former University of Fort Hare professor Dr Lana Blom.
Workers at the Thembani Project train and work in everything from recycling, gardening, needlework and cooking to woodwork while offering a recycling service for people of the larger community to earn money.
In doing so they have managed to grow the upliftment project from an eight-person operation to a multi-award winning one employing 40 men and women in just more than 10 years.
In 2004 Dr Blom, 60, who has a doctorate in counselling and psychology, received a research grant from the South Africa Netherlands research programme on alternatives in development (Sanpad) to study living conditions of people in Bedford, where her husband, Ben Blom, ran the family business Bedford Eagle Hout Manufacturing Enterprises.
The research focused on women and children, concentrating on unemployment.
Blom did the research with the help of honours students from the university and eight unemployed women recruited from the community.
The paper was such a success she was invited to present it at the Ceres conference at the Royal Tropical Institute in Holland.
“The women were such an amazing help, but it occurred to me once the project was done they would go back to being unemployed and I couldn’t stand to see that happen,” Blom said.
This was where the non-profit Thembani project was born with the support of her children, son Jaco, 39 – who has a hands-on role in the project – and Bonita, 35.
Blom retired from lecturing and started the project, which has gone on to win the Jet Community Award for Environmental Waste Management in 2009 and an Imupumelelo Silver Award in 2010.
Her husband came up with the idea of recycling optic fibres and with the help of Dreyer Pieterse, director of Sindawonye Granulators, organised a sub-contract for them with Telkom.
“All redundant Telkom fibre optic cable comes here via Sindawonye Granulators.
“As far as I know we are the first in the world to recycle fibre optic cable, and we are the only people in the southern hemisphere who do this type of recycling,” Blom said.
They try not to waste and the thread found in some of the cables is used for embroidery on the Thembani women’s candlewick duvets.
“Apart from the loadshedding –which often throws a spanner in the works – the big concern is the sustainability of the project as fibre optic cables are in the process of being phased out,” she said.
It is for this reason the project has branched out to include smaller projects under the Thembani umbrella.
“There are so many young people needing to earn an income and we want to make sure that here, they will always be able to.
“Then, there are the people who have been with us from the start. They also need to continue receiving an income.”
One of the ways they do this is by partnering with Bedford Eagle Hout Manufacturing Enterprises, which is a workers’ cooperative, to help with mentoring the next generation.
Ivannita Sapto, 38, and Petro Lottering, 35, have been involved since the start of the project.
“We heard they were looking for people and we came to find out. That was many years ago and we’re still here, having learnt a lot and even now training others,” Lottering said. — douglase@timesmedia.co.za
Bedford project feeds 40 families
Workers at the Thembani Project train and work in everything from recycling, gardening, needlework and cooking to woodwork while offering a recycling service for people of the larger community to earn money.
In doing so they have managed to grow the upliftment project from an eight-person operation to a multi-award winning one employing 40 men and women in just more than 10 years.
In 2004 Dr Blom, 60, who has a doctorate in counselling and psychology, received a research grant from the South Africa Netherlands research programme on alternatives in development (Sanpad) to study living conditions of people in Bedford, where her husband, Ben Blom, ran the family business Bedford Eagle Hout Manufacturing Enterprises.
The research focused on women and children, concentrating on unemployment.
Blom did the research with the help of honours students from the university and eight unemployed women recruited from the community.
The paper was such a success she was invited to present it at the Ceres conference at the Royal Tropical Institute in Holland.
“The women were such an amazing help, but it occurred to me once the project was done they would go back to being unemployed and I couldn’t stand to see that happen,” Blom said.
This was where the non-profit Thembani project was born with the support of her children, son Jaco, 39 – who has a hands-on role in the project – and Bonita, 35.
Blom retired from lecturing and started the project, which has gone on to win the Jet Community Award for Environmental Waste Management in 2009 and an Imupumelelo Silver Award in 2010.
Her husband came up with the idea of recycling optic fibres and with the help of Dreyer Pieterse, director of Sindawonye Granulators, organised a sub-contract for them with Telkom.
“All redundant Telkom fibre optic cable comes here via Sindawonye Granulators.
“As far as I know we are the first in the world to recycle fibre optic cable, and we are the only people in the southern hemisphere who do this type of recycling,” Blom said.
They try not to waste and the thread found in some of the cables is used for embroidery on the Thembani women’s candlewick duvets.
“Apart from the loadshedding –which often throws a spanner in the works – the big concern is the sustainability of the project as fibre optic cables are in the process of being phased out,” she said.
It is for this reason the project has branched out to include smaller projects under the Thembani umbrella.
“There are so many young people needing to earn an income and we want to make sure that here, they will always be able to.
“Then, there are the people who have been with us from the start. They also need to continue receiving an income.”
One of the ways they do this is by partnering with Bedford Eagle Hout Manufacturing Enterprises, which is a workers’ cooperative, to help with mentoring the next generation.
Ivannita Sapto, 38, and Petro Lottering, 35, have been involved since the start of the project.
“We heard they were looking for people and we came to find out. That was many years ago and we’re still here, having learnt a lot and even now training others,” Lottering said. — douglase@timesmedia.co.za
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