Positive Parenting workshop with the trainees in 2022
“The Positive Parenting programme’s goal is to see that families have the knowledge and skills needed to raise healthy, safe and resilient children,” says Xoliswa Arosi who started working as a social worker at Mfesane in 2021.
Mfesane is a Non-Profit Company (NPC) that is a leading Christian development agency offering community-based health care, support services as well as skills training and education, empowering communities through sustainable partnerships. They reach out to communities in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and the West Coast.
On Wednesday 8 February dr Daniël de Wet from Witness Ministry paid a visit to Mfesane in Khayelitsha, Cape Town where he had a meeting with Ms Khayakazi Mdunyelwa, the programme manager and some of her other staff members. Mfesane is one of a number of ministries Witness Ministry is supporting and networking with.
He visited some of the skills training sectors and was pleasantly surprised by what he saw. Afterwards some witness stories from people that were trained at this centre were shared with him.
Mfesane’s Family Preservation Programme
Xoliswa Arosi started working at Mfesane in 2021 as a social work intern. She explains, “After the termination of my contract, I got the opportunity to work at Mfesane as a social worker. My responsibilities are to provide care and support to families and individuals through counseling intervention and group facilitation. I provide counseling to the community, the staff, and the children that are using our services such as after-school programmes and a safe park.”
The skills training people are introduced to counseling and positive parenting services from the first day they come to the centre. “The reason behind all this is to let them know if someone needs help with his or her personal or emotional problems – the social worker is available,” explains Xoliswa. “We also have a Dignity Campaign, where girls and boys are empowered with skills. We host events where we talk more about belonging, dignity, the purpose of life as well as how to take care of yourself as a boy or a girl.
“The Positive Parenting programme’s goal is to see that families have the knowledge and skills needed to raise healthy, safe and resilient children. Our trainees, staff, and the parents of the children that use our services and the community as a whole, benefit from the programme to gain a holistic approach. During the presentation of the programme, you discover that there is a parent who has a personal problem and it is where the counseling service steps in or intervene. The group members are from all training departments which are sewing, bricklaying and plastering. In 2021 and 2022 we manage to reach 70 staff members, community members and skills-training students.
“I am also coordinating a basic entrepreneurship project in partnership with certain stakeholders. The participants are a group of ten women who graduated from the Mfesane sewing course. My role is to oversee that the participants that are empowered with business skills and sewing skills are succeeding and the programme is sustainable.
“Each time when there is a new group the organisation conduct induction and addresses all the services offered by the organisation as well. After all this, I visit the training workshops for the introduction of our care and support programmes. Throughout the process, I go to the sewing classroom to do the introduction of a positive parenting programme that we normally offer to our skills trainees.”
A good story
“During our first session, I noticed that there was a lady sitting quietly in the back seat. The next day she asked to talk to me privately. She told me that she is experiencing marital problems and shared her feeling about the state of her marriage with me. In the third session of our counseling session, I decided to involve her husband. After five sessions with them as a couple, we could see progress – the emotions changed from bad to better.
“In the meanwhile, the sewing and positive parenting sessions were also in progress. She finished the sewing training and managed to be selected as a student in one of the entrepreneur programmes. That means she managed to hit three birds with one stone! She also got a great opportunity to be selected for the programme that empowered ten participants with business and sewing skills. They have been given a business start-up kit and were monitored throughout the process.”
Xoliswa’s remarks, “The highlight is that people come to our centre for improving their skills but they end up being empowered in all aspects of life – emotionally and psycho-socially. Translated into English Mfesane means compassion, empathy, warmth, love, mercy, kindness, humanity and charity. The organisation seems to practice its name.”
Responses after the Positive Parenting sessions from the group members:
“I learned to love, care, respect and support my children in every aspect of life.”
“The way I think about parenting has changed after the programme.”
“The programme helped me to build a good relationship with my children.”
“Both parents should play their roles equally to raise their children safely and healthily.
Contact Ms Khayakazi Mdunyelwa at khayakazi@mfesane.org.za for more information.