The project is a world first community project and reality TV show broadcasted on SABC 1.
Soul City embarked on an exciting community development project and a reality TV makeover show called “Kwanda”. It was an innovative project that challenged communities to work together to make their communities look better, feel better and work better. Teams in 5 different communities worked in their communities for 120 days, on projects that enabled them to generate income in their community and to combat some of the social problems that arise from their poor environments; they faced problems such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, substance abuse ranging from alcohol to drug abuse.
Gripping television viewing one would say when watching this programme.
All the participating teams were filmed throughout this process during the time they implement their projects in their different communities. All these efforts formed part of an exciting community makeover show, “Kwanda”, geared for prime time television, where ordinary South Africans witnessed different communities tackling major projects and achieving the extraordinary.
One by one until they were 108, these individuals from Kwakwatsi, Koppies in the Northern Free State participated in the Kwanda project and underwent training in Rustenburg that pertained them, to the challenges they live with, in their community. Ya Rona project were formed with the main objective of addressing some of these social challenges facing the community of Kwakwatsi. The project team was assisted by three coaches in terms of guidance and implementation of skills.
Ya rona Kwanda team of Kwakwatsi raised funds towards a children’s project – to help the orphaned and vulnerable children of Kwakwatsi.
Speaking to Die Noord-Vrystaatese Gazette in an interview, the ordinary looking chairperson of the Ya rona Kwanda, Liesbet Mathe, talked about the problems and challenges that they are faced with in their project. When asked what their project was all about, she said in a sweet and exhausted voice, “we are involved in many things like sewing, food garden; tree planting, fencing, landscaping, chicken farm and social themes that include alcohol and drug abuse and many more”. The project started as a Soul City and Eventual Africa initiative, which took project leaders from six provinces to a learning camp. “The camps coached us many things that we had to implement in our communities and we had to make a pledge on what we had to do when we came back”, said Liesbet Mathe with a smile on her exhausted looking face.
Up on arrival from camp they were given 120 day to use their pledges constructively and the camera was always there to capture these moments. The first step the held a community meeting to intrudes themselves to the community and give them their ideas on what the intended on doing in the community of Kwakwatsi. Hand-in-hand with the Ngwathe Municipality they embarked and a live changing project. They help the orphans, people with disability and those affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. The one step that they themselves did was to take an HIV test and out of 108 volunteers only 68 were brave enough to undergo the test.
Despite the hard work that they did, they all committed and working hard every day. One of their achievements was the awarding of yet another project, CWP (Community Work Programme). Mathe said the project employed 1500 people working for eight day per month and earning about R1000.
The Ya Rona Kwanda project won a wiping R1 million from Soul City and Eventual Africa. With the money Mathe said that they intended on keeping their promice to the community of Kwakwatsi and that is making it to be a better place to be living in. One of their intentions is to get a bigger place for their office as at this moment they are still at the Municipality’s buildings and to get a bigger farm.
“With them we sell them to the community at large” that was Mathe’s response to what they do with the products that the produce. She also added that with the food that they produce at their food garden they give some to the local schools and orphaned and vulnerable children of Kwakwatsi. As with the bugs they were still manufacturing the whole night, Mathe was more than happy to mention that they have signed a contract with Woolworths, according to her the bugs and other Kwanda clothing will be available at Woolworths.
