Even though lockdown has limited many areas of business for many individuals, the Clover Mama Afrika team has not allowed this to deter them for a second. Where the Clover Mama Afrikas would normally travel to Gauteng for most training sessions, ‘virtual’ has now become the new norm.
Clover Mama Afrika, Clover’s corporate sustainability initiative, a community-led approach aimed at reducing poverty in neighbourhoods by empowering women to empower the generation that comes after them, will continue to power through during lockdown. The team is determined to continue to fight the war against poverty by upskilling these women who can carry the torch and break the cycle of poverty. Over and above the training sessions, these “Mamas” are all supplied with the necessary tools, equipment and infrastructure to create an income for themselves in order for them to give back to their communities.
The Clover Mama Afrika team continues to provide the necessary training courses as scheduled for the Mamas, but in a different way due to the national lockdown. Prof Elain Vlok, Clover Manager, Clover Mama Afrika Trust, filmed an entire cooking course to ensure the Mamas can continue to build their knowledge during lockdown. The second virtual training was the Cake Decorating & Koeksister Course. This was then followed by the Venison and Basic Curry Cooking Course, where Prof Vlok did the processing of the venison and made all the Indian dishes under the watchful eyes of Anusha Padayachee and Leonie Edwards from Ritchie in the Northern Cape. This virtual training video will be sent to the Mamas to do soon.
“The Cooking and Baking virtual video training, which was the first of its kind, reached the Mamas together with all the necessary ingredients and apparatus. The report backs are coming in fast and furious and we feel that it is going very well. They are able to do each recipe with the support of the video and printed material at their leisure in the comfort of their own kitchen. We are excited for them to continue their training sessions as scheduled and soon they will receive the Basic Curry making course too. I’m excited to share all my newfound knowledge with our Mamas. I learned game processing from my mother as a child and it was wonderful when all that experience just came back to me again,” says Prof Elain Vlok, Clover Manager, Clover Mama Afrika Trust.
Clover Mama Afrika is delighted to be able to provide the necessary training sessions during these hard times. The virtual training pack included ingredients for the amazing recipes, which saw the mamas providing meals to their immediate family and project members during such trying times. “This means our training was more than educational, as tummies were filled too. It must also be noted that Clover Mama Afrika provided valuable income to service providers such as Jan Botha Photography and fellow training facilitators, who would otherwise not be earning at all during the national lockdown. Their gratefulness for the opportunity was priceless and this is thanks to MiX Telematics’ valuable contribution which made this kind of training possible,” concludes Prof Vlok.
