Author name: debbie.w.collier

Written by Alistair Ruiters

After two years of participating in numerous workshops, update meetings, hearing unfamiliar voices,
blurred and broken online images that flashed across my computer screen as yet another online
meeting was interrupted with “can you hear me”or “put your mic on mute” this past Saturday I
finally had the privilege of attending an in person meeting of the We Care project. I was anxious to
place faces to the voices and wondered how the members of the project would receive me.

My anxieties were misplaced. I was warmly received and managed to consume some lovely snacks
and coffee before the session started. The members sitting around the room were dressed in their
finest clothes, a mixture of church, formal dresses, and traditional wear. I was glad that I had put on
a collared shirt. Proceedings kicked off with introductions that focused mainly on why the project
was started and the progress that had been made to date. Much of this we had heard before. The
best was yet to come as the new executive/ management team was introduced and each member of
the team spoke of their growing confidence and reliance on the rest of the members for support.
Personally I felt the moment seemed lost on all. At least from the comments that were made. This
moment in the life of any co-op, I believe needs to be recognised and celebrated. what I witnessed
was the passing of the baton. the team from UWC had over the past two years worked with the coop
members and successfully empowered them to now take control, decide, manage and forge their
own destiny as a collective. Some coops are stuck in a dependency cycle. A dependency on the
support organisation to manage the co-op. Here today the dependency cycle was broken and
members were taking ownership and control – this is one of the cornerstones of the co-op principles.
I was moved as I saw the various executive members walk up and introduce themselves. This is the
moment to build upon. The project now needs to reinforce ownership and control by members at all
levels. The role of the support organisation needs to be clearly delineated with roles and
responsibilities clearly defined.

The next part of the proceedings was dedicated to handing out certificates. This was indeed the
most celebrated part of the afternoon. A combination of music song and dance accompanied each
walk up to the podium to receive a certificate confirming that the member had the competency to
use several apps, to engage the new world of social media, internet commerce but most importantly
engage in the project that seeks to build an e commerce online platform.

I was amused at some of the empowering stories of how the new knowledge of smart phones had
been deployed and it reminded that as South Africans no matter  how old or young we are, we are
always willing to step up to the challenge and find something new. I felt sad thinking of lost
opportunities to empower people, noting that such a small gesture by UWC and its partners and
changed the lives of 50 women. But the day confirmed that we have so much more to do, so much
to celebrate and in each and every small way we can change the world into a better place for all its
citizens.