Written by: Bernie Dolley (Director, Ikhala Trust) and Teresa Opperman (Project Leader, Hugs of Hope, Hofmeyr)

“You are a leader when you begin to engage with the future, when you draw people into collaboration, when you commit yourself to a larger goal” Petra Kuenkel

Introduction

Hofmeyr is a small Karoo town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, 20 km west of the Bamboesberg mountain range. It lies 64 km north-east of Cradock at an altitude of 1,252 metres. According to the 2011 census, the population of Hofmeyr proper is about 326 persons and the neighbouring township of Luxolweni is about 3354. In former times it lay at the centre of a flourishing sheep-farming district and managed the Teviot salt pans 10 km to its west.

Founded in 1873, the town was initially named Maraisburg. To avoid confusion with the Gauteng area of Maraisburg it was renamed Hofmeyr in 1911 [2] in honour of Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (Onze Jan),[3] a campaigner for the equal treatment of Afrikaans and English and a prominent figure in the EersteTaalbeweging.

The Hofmeyr Skull, belonging to a 36,000 year old anatomically modern human, was found in 1952 in the dry wash of the Vlekpoort River just outside Hofmeyr.

Hofmeyr Hugs of Hope:  How it all started

The project was the initiative of Teresa Opperman (a farmer’s wife).  Teresa has suffered Type 1 Diabetes for the past 50 years and was becoming very frail and brittle over the last few years.  By the Grace of God she was referred to Dr G Podgorski in Port Elizabeth and her life changed for good.  Through the positive changes that took place in her own life, Teresa wanted to pay it forward and assist others in her community to experience positive life changes.  Says Teresa ‘when you are in a bad emotional or physical shape, a HUG can make a huge difference’ hence Hugs of Hope was birthed.  Teresa took to the streets, gathered all the people that were hungry, those facing social and economic challenges, the sick and the poor and they met in the local church hall.  35 people arrived for the first gathering.

Teresa rallied some volunteers who all suffered hard ships at some time through their lives, prepared a sumptuous meal for the 35 people who were present and she shared her vision of uplifting and empowering people from Hofmeyr.  She explained to people present that Hugs of Hope was not just about handing out goods to the poor but to involve them in programmes that would uplift their spirits, teach them basic sewing and cooking skills and assist them in thinking about and planning for their futures despite the conditions they find themselves in.

Between them they visited different communities, introduced themselves and explained the purpose of Hugs of Hope.  These were either members of the community who required assistance and wanted to transform their lives or members of the community who felt that they could contribute by way of using their skills, gifts and talents.  They not only visited the community where they lived,  but Teresa also visited surrounding communities, especially the small towns in the 100 km radius around Hofmeyr.

In Teresa’s words “I attended an Asset Based Community Development Workshop in Tarkastad in December 2017 and I returned to Hofmeyr with big dreams, ambition and the project took off from there.

What they are proud of:-

Hugs of Hope was started with no external funding.  Hofmeyr Hugs of Hope had no money. By tapping into local networks and resource people they were able to get so many things off the ground in record timing.  To highlight just a few of their achievements – they have sooo many:-

  • Zettie Jordaan manages the Hugs of Hope Horse Riding Academy for children and adults with disabilities
  • They knitted 45 jerseys in 5 days for comedian Schalk Bezuidenhout’s launch of his new book ‘Truitjie Roer My Nie” – the jerseys were handed out by him at his book launches country wide.
  • They employ a Social Worker for 10 hours per month.
  • They lobbied for Veterinary Services and now have a service on the last Tuesday of every month – all it takes from their side is to provide meals to the Vets. 68 pets were sterilized and 117 tended to for skin conditions, deworming and other conditions in one swoop.
  • They are determined to become a plastic-free town and to this end and through a donation from Ikhala Trust are making shopping bags which they sell at a small fee and lobbying the local shop owners to join them in the campaign. The local minister has taken charge of getting the youth to assist him in cleaning the main streets of the town and they are provided with an incentive to do this.  The next step for them is to start a recycling project.
  • They have an impressive network of resource people who provide them with all sorts of in-kind donations from venison donations to vegetables, clothing, office equipment, materials for sewing, wool for knitting and the list just goes on and on and on. Depot managers were appointed by Teresa, through her network of friends and family,  who collect and store donations,  till it gets a bit too much, and then plans are made to courier it to Hofmeyr.  Often by the Depot Managers themselves,  or by good hearted people who want to contribute to Hugs.  In this way, bakkie loads of stuff land at Hugs at regular intervals.  Nothing ever goes to waste.  If you cannot use it anymore, there is certainly somewhere out there who’ve been praying for exactly what you are throwing out.  Torn and tattered clothes do not end up in a dump, they are recycled, repaired and restored and given out to someone who loves them dearly.
  • Teresa is a networker and gapper of note and once she puts her shoulder to the wheel – there is no stopping her. With 1090 people on her whatsapp list, only 10 are friends.  The rest of them count as her network.  How many people can you load onto your own network?

Stimulating the local economy of small towns

Small towns in the Eastern Cape are characterised by a number of factors not excluding the following:-

  • Almost all of them are farming communities (either sheep, cattle or goats)
  • The drought that is being experienced has had negative effects on all the farmers which inadvertently affects the farm workers
  • Populations are poor, small and are mostly made up of older people and children
  • The cost of living is expensive as there are no major shopping malls or major stores
  • Quality of goods available for purchase is often inferior
  • Transport costs to the closest towns is expensive
  • 95% of people who live in these towns rely on social grants and are hugely in debt to loan sharks
  • Hardly any formal employment so people leave the towns for bigger towns
  • Youth over the age of 17 that could not finish school end up as jobless, and totally dependent on their relatives for food and shelter.

What are some of the local economic activities that could help to keep the money circulating in these towns:-

  • Grow local produce i.e. vegetables and fruit
  • Start poultry farming project
  • Turning manure (any manure) and garden waste into fertilizer
  • Second hand clothing and furniture store
  • Skills training projects
  • Baking: rusks, biscuits, cakes, pastries, breads on order
  • Bottling: fruit syrups, jams, salads, pickles and salad dressings
  • Drying: herbs and spices produced in our own gardens
  • Promote tourism – find the gems in the town and promote those on social media
  • Work closely with local government departments to seek out opportunities for creating work opportunities
  • Seek out collaborations with other stakeholders including Dept of Social Department for the placement of students, learnerships
  • Host an Annual Hofmeyr Festival that involves everyone from the town

From the Individual to the Collective:  A paradigm shift:  An extract from Petra Kuenkel

Leadership paradigms often refer only to individuals and the expansion of one person’s skills.  The challenges faced by fellow travellers and indeed most challenges of sustainability – require us to go beyond the individual and build the capacity of groups and systems to move important issues of common concern forward.  This requires collective action, dialogue and collaboration.  It is the aspect of collectivity that has been missing in leadership development thus far.

“The championship sports teams and great jazz ensembles provide metaphors for acting in spontaneous yet co-ordinated ways.  Outstanding teams in organisations develop the same sort of relationship – an “operational trust” – where each team member remains conscious of other team members and can be counted on to act in ways that complement each others’ actions”.

According to Peter Senge, the conceptual pioneer of the idea of learning organisations, speaks about team learning as a collective discipline, “Leadership exists when people are no longer victims of circumstances, but participate in creating new circumstances”.

Every community needs a community motivator/ambassador/champion who have some of the qualities and attributes mentioned below, however the challenge is to ensure that no-one is left out and that everyone feels that they are valued and have a contribution to make towards the success of an activity or a project.  We therefore need to be mindful of the following:-

  • Dream of positive change and know that, working in concert with others, you can make a difference.
  • Speak out with your own unique voice when you observe inequality.
  • Speak with men about violence against women
  • Teach your sons and daughters to value each other, deeply and to respect their equality and their differences.
  • Give money and time to organisations that are doing good.
  • Embrace diversity and eliminate the concept of ‘the other’
  • Recognize your own power and constantly share it.
  • If in doubt say, yes
  • If in doubt, be generous and giving
  • If in doubt, choose compassion over anger – anger is disempowering
  • Be efficient and effective in your work, and still treat others softly
  • Be willing to be vulnerable – which is not about weakness but about truth
  • Find strength through positive connection with others
  • Value freedom and know that it emerges from trust and love

Extract:  Paradigm Found:  Ms Anne Firth Murray

Reflecting on growth areas (challenges) they face:-

  • We need more volunteers to step forward as the activities increase and more and more people are coming to Hugs.
  • We are running out of space – the church hall that we currently use is getting too small for all the activities that are happening
  • Dedicated space for after-school care and homework supervision is also a challenge
  • Younger people to be recruited into the organisation so they can learn valuable skills which may give them a better chance at finding employment
  • We use our own private vehicles for the pick-up and delivery of goods and this is not always conducive as we need our vehicles for our own personal use
  • Increase in social workers hours due to the number of cases she has to deal with – we need to find the funds to pay her for extra hours
  • Relationships with different government departments in our community needs to improve – perhaps we can have an open day to share what we do (my suggestion)
  • All the personnel working at Hugs (as a labour of love – free of charge) are over the age of 60. They no longer want to attend courses and receive training outside of Hofmeyr.  We need to incorporate a training schedule in Hofmeyr which they can attend and enlighten their own personal way of thinking and doing.

“You need to inspire people to think in possibilities rather than limitations”

There are many small but positive initiatives taking place in Hofmeyr.  Below is Flippie Kleinveldt, who assists with recycling that he then exchanges for packaged meals.  He also is the person responsible to supply the whole of Twinsville with water during times of no electricity or water, which happens rather often.  He picks up every household’s bottle and takes it to be filled.  They accompany him, and they do the filling up themselves.  Upon return with his bottles of water, they have to pack their sorted rubbish on his wagon for which he then receives food parcels from Hugs.  The trailer was made with old wheel chair wheels that were thrown away on the rubbish dump.

The ladies down below, none of them could even use a sewing machine in the past are now able to make-up beautiful quilts which they sell.  Some income generated is ploughed back to ‘Hugs’ – the off-cuts of material they use comes from a wide range of sources.  The first quilt completed is their property. They take it home, and then start with their own marketing and get orders, for which they can collect fabrics from Hugs, either to be sewn at Hugs or at Home.  A nominal fee comes back to Hugs, but they charge their own tariff for the end product they produce and sell.  They are not allowed to deliver without receiving payment from their clients first.  Fabrics are received from the network of depots across South Africa.

Teresa “I recently had my 60th birthday.  I never imagined I would get this old, with my T1 Diabetes.  But God granted me these years.  My children wanted to know what I wanted as a gift for my 60th.  I told them:  “Bring your old clothes and old stuff to Hugs”.   That is just the way my heart works.  I do not need any goods anymore – I have what I need, but a lot of people struggle because they do not have anything.  Those bags of old clothes gave me so much pleasure when I could hand out beautiful things to the beautiful people, who need them.

Ikhala has taught me to see my life in pictures.  Pictures of seedlings growing,  pictures of beautiful machine knitted jerseys, pictures of fresh eggs, herbs and spices,  pictures of fresh vegetables with the smell of the earth still clinging to them,  pictures of quilts traveling far and wide. Pictures of shopping bags with hand-painted designs, pictures of freshly prepared plates of food,  pictures of freshly baked rusks drying in the ovens where Hettie Hanker, our kitchen lady in charge prepares them and much much more because at Hugs we are still growing.  But above all,  I have never in my life imagined that me and the team at Hugs, would receive so many Hugs and terms of endearment, that we would build such a huge community of care, and that we would be able to circulate such a lot of love in such a short time.  No money can buy that.   You do not need money to do that.  You need to look into a person’s eyes, and see the soul.  Once you have seen the soul, you know where you have to nurture that soul to make that person whole again.

This is what Hugs of Hope is about. Thanks Ikhala for the essence you have put into the tough cookie that Hofmeyr Hugs of Hope could have been without your assistance. “

These two proud local producers who were taught how to grow their own vegetables and now have a regular income.