60th Mama Afrika appointed to join Clover Mama Afrika family

As the Clover Mama Afrika project continues to grow in leaps in bounds, they are excited to share the news of their 60th appointed Mama Afrika to join the project. This is a great milestone for the project and all their Mama Afrikas!

Clover Mama Afrika, Clover’s corporate sustainability initiative, is a community-led approach aimed at reducing poverty in neighbourhoods by empowering women and those around them to empower the generation that comes after them. And with the project running successfully since 2004 and hosting 440 training sessions with over 2313 beneficiaries over the years, the benefits of upskilling can be clearly seen. 
 
60th Mama Afrika, Mama Nomsa Zimema (54 years old) is from Thembalethu in George. She has been sewing from her home for nine years and subsequently taught her husband Steven and her son Gavin, who help her with the hemming machine and fine trims respectively.

As she earns an income, she buys fabric and proudly says that she likes to buy Da Gama cloths and only uses the best Shwe-Shwe fabric. Apart from the fact that she already sews very well, she is now going to attend her first professional sewing course offered by Bernina and believes that she will then be able to produce really professional work.
Nomsa's dream is to train young people in the art of sewing and looks forward to empowering herself first and then others in her community. She is excited to be joining the Clover Mama Afrika family, learn, grow and in turn empower members of her community with the knowledge she gains from the project. 
 
“I am so honoured that Prof Elain has chosen and appointed me as a Mama Afrika for the Clover Mama Afrika project. I can’t wait to start attending the regular upskilling and training courses and to uplift and empower my community with everything I will be learning as a Mama Afrika. Being under the guidance of Prof Elain is truly a dream come true!” says Mama Nomsa.
 
“We are proud to appoint our 60th Mama Afrika and feel that it is such a measure of success to have so many successful, hard-working and passionate women forming part of our project! We have definitely started this year off on a high! Mama Nomsa is a great addition to Clover Mama Afrika and with her excitement to learn and work hard she will most certainly make a difference in her community and to the lives of those around her,” says Prof Elain Vlok, Clover Manager, Clover Mama Afrika Trust. 
 
Over the past 23 years of Clover Mama Africa has appointed many new and successful Clover Mama Afrikas and they continue to do very thorough research in order to find new additions to the project. The project also continues to ensure they provide the best training and upskilling to each and every Clover Mama Afrika. 
 
Among all the 60 Clover Mama Afrika’s there are many centres that are providing to various communities:
•    Sewing - 23 centres
•    Quilting - 13 centres
•    Cooking & baking - 22 centres
•    Siyabonga bread baking - 22 centres
•    Food gardens - 18 centres
•    Beadwork - 9 centres
•    Crocheting / Knitting - 12 centres
•    Flower Arranging - 12 centres
•    Pottery - 1 centre
•    Hairdressing - 5 centres
•    Egg Laying / poultry project - 5 centres
 
By harnessing the strength of the human spirit and creating an infrastructure that will enable the poor to drive self-help initiatives to continually improve their lives, Clover Mama Afrika continues to strive to upskill, empower and educate Mama Afrikas in their communities, allowing them to share those skills with others living in their communities.