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PROJECTS
Grassroot Organisation
KvM supports small projects - too small for 'normal' ngo's. This is possible because we have almost no overhead. The board does the work in the Netherlands and pays its own expenses. In Namaqualand, KvM works with trusted intermediaries. They are only reimbursed for expenses.
One project = double effect.
Namaqualand is a poor area. So we get the stuff for our projects as much as possible from the region. Two goats for Candice came from the Kamiesberg. Food parcels during the Corona lockdown came from supermarkets in the Kamiesberg and O'kiep. The trousers, jackets and hats for the 'cattlemen' in the Kamiesberg are made by two tailors in Nababeep and O'kiep. This is how your money works twice.
YOLANDA COETZEE WANTS TO EXPAND HER ACTIVITIES (2022)
Not only woodwork, but also stones – there are plenty of them in the area! – and waste, and then use it to make beautiful garden ornaments with metal for local sale. We support this 'Klip & Staal' project
HELPING LISA BOONZAAIER - A DREAM OF FOOD SECURITY FOR ALL (2022)
Lisa Boonzaaier is a young woman in Namakwaland. She studied marketing but couldn't find a job in South Africa. Now she has an offer for volunteer work on a regenerative farm in Spain. The condition is that she pays her own travel expenses, including visa, residence permit etc. Lisa wants to work in this field for a number of years and then take her experience back to South Africa and set up a social enterprise there.
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We have given Lisa three paid assignments: one to strengthen our marketing, one to support Yolanda in developing her business plan, and the third to support Garage in strengthening their marketing. Here too the money works twice: Lisa was helped, Garage was helped, Yolanda was helped and we were helped...
FINANCING FOR GARAGE DANCE ENSEMBLE (2022)
Like many other cultural institutions, Garage Dance Ensemble in O'kiep is largely dependent on subsidies. Partly due to the Corona crisis, it is currently difficult to acquire subsidies, and it takes a long time. As a result, Garage was short of cash. We jumped in.
EMERGENCY AID (2022)
Malinda (our trused partner in the Kamiesberg) made an emergency call: suddenly severe weather destroyed the village of Nourivier. Electricity went out and there was no more water. Malinda arranged large bottles of drinking water for the villagers and we paid the bill.
PROVIDING LOCAL 'VEEWAGTERS' WITH GOOD CLOTHING (2020, 2021, 2022)
Malinda Gardiner, who works with local farmers in the Kamiesberg, asked us if we could help provide local 'veewagters' with good clothing. The 'veewagters' herd the goats of local farmers. These farmers are poor and can pay only very small salaries to their 'veewagters', who do their work in the scorching heat in the summer, and occasionally in biting cold in the winter. Good clothes - hat included! – protects the 'veewagters' and are good for their self-esteem.
At the end of 2020 we started to raise money for these clothes and made a plan to have the clothes made in Namakwaland to the extent possible. In this way, the contributions work twice. It took a long time and the first attempts failed, but in the end it succeeded. Malinda made sure that the clothing sizes were passed on. Yolanda (our partner in O'kiep) organised everything.
She arranged for two tailors in the region to sew the coats, trousers and hats. Yolanda also did the quality control and bought shirts and socks. Malinda then made sure that the clothes were distributed. By then it was early 2022. It sometimes takes a long time to get things arranged in Namakwaland.
YOLANDA COETZEE – OUR PARTNER IN O'KIEP – ASKED FOR HELP WITH THE START OF A WOODWORKING PROJECT (2021)
She wants to make useful things from old pallets, and thereby also create employment for local young people. We financed the start-up costs. Finding sufficient numbers of good pallets turned out to be challenging task. That challenge is ongoing in 2022.
EMERGENCY AID (2020)
The Corona lockdown hit many day labourers in the region hard. That is why we have given food aid in two places from May: in the Kamiesberg, organised by Malinda and in O'kiep, organised by Patty. In addition, through the local Step Up foundation, we financed internet data for students of the vocational training college in Okiep during the time that they could not go to school.
YOLANDA COETZEE'S SECOND-HAND LAPTOP BROKE DOWN (2020)
Yolanda needs a laptop for her work as an administrator at Garage Dance Ensemble and for her training. We funded a new laptop for her.
GEORGE's ARTIFICIAL LEG (2020)
For George Chatwoka in Kimberly, we financed a new artificial leg. His old one was badly worn out. George lost his leg in 2012 due to a severe tetanus infection.
MARLIN DIRKSE, ASKED FOR HELP TO GET A JOB AT GUESTHOUSE NARIES AT SPRINGBOK (2020)
The condition was that he brings his own work clothes and has a driver's license. We financed this through Malinda. Unfortunately for Marlin, the Corona crisis threw a spanner in the works: the job did not materialise.
GARAGE DANSENSEMBLE IN O'KIEP VROEG STEUN VOOR ADMINISTRATIE EN FONDSWERVING (2019)
We paid for a wi-fi router, data, printing paper, ink and a subscription to 'Funds for NGOs', a website that presents subsidy opportunities. One of the participants – Yolanda Coetzee – joined Garage part-time as an administrator. Julia (president KvM) has been guiding her since then in building her skills.