Inspiring South African Women

South Africa has a number of famous women in its history from anti-Apartheid activists to movie stars and athletes. There are the well-known names such as Albertina Sisulu, Lillian NgoyiI and Ruth First who fought against the Apartheid regime, but there are also post-Apartheid women who worked, and continue to work, towards a democratic and fair South Africa. Among these women are Thuli Madonsela, former public protector, who worked on the Constitution of South Africa - at the time of writing the Constitution of South Africa was considered the most progressive in the world, and Basetsana Kumalo, former Miss South Africa, who is involved with various charities that support children. Most recently, Caster Semenya made international news with regards to gender and gender rights in sports.

But not all actions need to be huge, multi-layered or have international attention. In the Cape Town suburb of Khayelitsha, 25 year old Babalwa Zothe is making changes within her community through her love of cricket. Starting in primary school, she joined the boys cricket team and soon put together a girls team. With a passion for coaching and growing cricket, she now mentors roughly 100 girls at the Cricket South Africa's (CSA) Khayelitsha hub. While women’s cricket still has a long way to go, there are passionate people like Zothe who help make the future look good.

Our Jeffrey’s Bay Kindergarten project is another example of a local woman doing work for the community. Taise Sampson is involved in a number of projects within the Kouga municipal area where the project is located. As the saying goes, a small ripple can create big waves.

Yours,
The Good Hope Volunteer Team

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