Catching Up With Friends

Last Friday, Hlumelelisa checked in with Lynnette who is one of our star graduates from our short skills course conducted at the women's section of Johannesburg Central Correctional Facility in 2009 and 2010. She has always stood out to us as a dilligent student who took great care and pride in her course work - you can see evidence of this here in the training manuals that she meticulously decorated. 

What is Lynnette up to now? She is pursuing training as a counselor to help fellow women offenders and parolees and spending time with her family. Her prize accomplishment to date is the replanting and care of a family garden that had fallen into disrepair after being unattended for many years. 

Lynnette with Hlumelelisa staff member Stacey Clark

The cover of Lynnette's Horticulture workbook

Great care tkaen inside Lynnette's workbook

Lynnette and the JHB Central Class of 2010

Home Grown - Kagiso's Story

Kagiso Monegi is a part of Hlumelelisa’s training team – she currently serves as lead facilitator at our horticulture training centre at the Leeuwkop Correctional Facility and in the past has served as both an office assistant and as a training assistant in the Female Section at the Johannesburg Central Correctional Facility (“Sun City”).

Kagiso is a “home grown” member of the Hlumelelisa team – she started with us in 2008 not as a facilitator but as a student. Kagiso joined our seven-month short skills training course in plant production at the Bophelong Community Centre in Diepsloot. Though somewhat shy, Kagiso proved to be a quick and eager learner and was brought on as a training assistant soon after she completed the course. Kagiso was a team favourite amongst the female students in her role as a training facilitation assistant at Sun City.

Photos Left to Right: Kagiso as Hlumelelisa learner in Diepsloot in 2008 & handing out graduation certificates and hugs at Sun City class of 2009 graduation.

Since then, Kagiso has continued to grow and develop as a vital member of the Hlumelelisa team. Paul Bruns, Hlumelelisa’s Project Manager, relates that he is constantly amazed at her determination and growth over the past several years, “She has completely transformed from the shy, hesitant person we first met at our training programme in Diepsloot. She is now a confident and proud member of the team. You can hear the change in the tone of her voice – she is the embodiment of the change that Hlumelelisa hopes to impart to our learners as we work to grow people.”

Kagiso has continued to grow herself and develop her skills – she’s completed in-depth training in permaculture and sustainable agriculture at the Siyakhana Initiative and has also achieved certification as both a moderator and assessor with the Agriculture SETA. She speaks Swetswana as well as English and is the mother of two beautiful daughters, Omolemo and Oamogetswe. Hear more about Kagiso’s journey in her own words by clicking this link to her video testimonial - you will also hear from Siza who was the subject of our prior learner story.

Photos Left to Right: Kagiso with Hlumelelisa team at gardening fair in Soweto in 2010 and showcasing AgriSETA certification with training staff and learners at Leeuwkop in 2010.

Siza's Story - Part Two

At present, Siza is working full time at The Healing Centre run by Dr. Gabaza Ngobeni in Soweto – he is working in their gardens, doing clerical work and also as a youth counselor. Since his release on parole, he has also worked as part of the team at Natalie’s Gardens, a landscaping business that specializes in waterwise indigenous gardens.

Siza attributes Hlumelelisa with helping to turn around his life while incarcerated – beyond giving him practical skills that have allowed him to find employment, he has gained self-respect and a sense of responsibility to himself as well as his community. This has led him to not only want to do better by himself but also to give back to his family and community by working to counsel youths about staying away from crime, drugs and alcohol.

Siza’s story is an inspiration that embodies the very vision of Hlumelelisa – we aim to equip sentenced offenders with practical skills so that they can take care of themselves, make a positive contribution to their community and help to create a greener, more beautiful South Africa for many years to come.

Siza's Story

Siza was born and raised in the township of Soweto – in his own words, he was a very shy youth, a “good kid” who was very clever at school. Both of these sentiments were echoed by his family on a recent home visit by Hlumelelisa. During his years in high school, He began hanging out with friends who were a bad influence and he spent his time just trying to fit in. Siza was raised in a loving yet firm Muslim family – they simply wouldn’t give him money to support the activities that would allow him to fit into his new crowd: money for drinking, cigarettes and to maintain a girlfriend. During grade 11, he left school and took to crime to finance this lifestyle.

Photos of Siza as a teenager in school and with his family in Soweto.

On 23 December 2010, Siza was released on parole from the Leeuwkop Correctional Facility after seven years retention from his very first arrest. Sitting down with Siza, he is quick to indicate that his incarceration was the result of his own actions – he was raised by a loving, caring family who has, it must be said, recently welcomed him home with open arms. He simply fell into a trap that was very common in his community – low self-esteem as a teenager, coupled with a desire to fit in and a lack of funds that led him to crime.

Siza is a graduate of Hlumelelisa’s horticulture training programme conducted at Leeuwkop during 2009. As a student, he was quiet but showed a keen interest in learning and his steady progress was noted by Hlumelelisa’s training facilitators and staff. Siza was asked to return to Hlumeelisa’s training facility as a monitor for the class of 2010 – he worked at maintaining the nursery and assisted with training courses.

Siza has solid plans for his future – he plans to open a landscaping business of his own in two years time and wants to work as a counselor in schools to help kids who grew up like he did. He is drawn to work in the field of horticulture as it is a field that not many people in his community are working in and he sees lots of opportunities, not to mention the fact that he is “just plain good at it”. (to be continued)

Siza in Leeuwkop Correctional Facility and with his family and Hlumelelisa Project Manager Paul Bruns on Family Day 2009.