Prof Elain Vlok, Clover Manager, Clover Mama Afrika Trust, has relied on the science of being kind to build the Clover Mama Afrika project and inspire the Mama Afrikas. This simple notion has spread from the top down and like the skills transfer that Clover Mama Afrika provides to every Mama Afrika, this spirit of kindness ripples through from the training facilitators to the Mama Afrikas, and to their staff and communities. Kindness is a state of mind, and when adopted, can change an attitude and be used as a motivator and best of all, it’s contagious.
Showing kindness to those around you can have an enormous impact on someone’s life because we never know what someone else may be going through. The Clover Mama Afrika’s take great pride in showing kindness to others. Kindness is defined as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. However, today we find that kindness means quite a bit more and can mean different things to different people. The meaning comes down to how you choose to show kindness. It may mean doing nice things without expecting nice things in return, which is exactly what the Mama Afrika’s pride themselves in.
Let’s look at some Mama Afrikas and how their kindness has changed their communities:
Mama Nondumiso Mpitimpiti from Amalinda Forest in the Eastern Cape
Mama Nondumiso employs around 500 people from her community. Sometimes her staff come to work with problems, and she needs to show kindness to her people. “I need to treat my staff with the same kindness I treat other community members. For example, I’ve had situations where an employee cannot work because they have a small child at home, and are not able to put them into creche. In this case, I offered the mom a much reduced rate for our day care, so her child is well cared for, and she is able to work and earn a living,” says Mama Nondumiso.
In other cases, Mama Nondumiso assists with community problems with kindness. She delicately deals with a tough situation so that a problem can be identified and solved. “For example, say I have a person come to me because they have no food. I will look for the explanation of why this is the case, in some instances, it is because they have used money for alcohol. With kindness, I need to explain the situation so this individual can understand why they don’t have food, before I am able to assist them. This is a real, meaningful kindness for the person, not just a once-off meal,” she adds.
Sometimes Mama Nondumiso shows kindness in simpler ways; their soup kitchen is only for the children, but some members in the community are on special treatments and need a meal with medication, in this situation, kindness is shown with a simple bowl of soup.
Mama Selestien form Ashbury in the Western Cape
Another story of kindness comes from Mama Selestien Moses. She recalls how one day, a lady by the name of Lydia started visiting her centre. “This was around ten years ago,” she recalls. “She would always come to ask for food, and was almost always drunk. After some time, I asked her to come to work at the centre and she agreed. Still, she arrived time after time drunk and dirty” says Mama Selestien.
