IMPACT STORY

Our project needed good communication skills so that we can make it move faster. So as a team, we did need assistance for some part of the project, which required us to communicate our needs. We learned how to effectively communicate our needs with everyone involved, mainly our project advisor and facilitator.

The distribution stage of the project involved a lot of interaction with our community members. In a community, there are many different people, and we were supposed to approach them respectfully. We also had to develop a positive mindset for everyone because some people were very skeptical about our project and had to respond positively not to bother them. Overall we got to learn that our community is full of different people, but most of them are positive people who are keen to see change.

We learned how to be persistent through the project since this project runs for about 4 to 5 months. We used to set goals to achieve whether it was planting X amount of plants or distributing X amount of plants in a week. Sometimes we felt the plans were too big to achieve, but that presented opportunities to us to practice being persistent, understanding and asking for help when needed.

Last but not least, we learned how to advertise a product effectively. Our advisor helped us to get the necessary information for promoting the plant to the community. EEP helped us provide us with a project advisor, and the funds helped us move forward with the project as a whole!

– Olympia Gumede

Throughout the process of working on this project I really learned a lot, even though sometimes there were moments where I felt like we couldn’t tackle certain challenges we came across during the process. That is one of the things which made the whole experience more impactful, because we got to push and challenge ourselves to step outside our comfort zone each time. With the help we got from the EEP I felt really supported on our Project. All in all it was a really meaningful experience working with our Advisor and the EEP as a whole.

– Mpumi NgwenYama

Personally for being part of the ISNAD-EEP there were times I felt overwhelmed with what we needed to do for the project or just the amount of work that was required of me and my team. I feel it’s a great thing because it challenged my prioritization skills and to effectively implement strategies like “planning”. I personally believe that growth happens when we stretch your abilities or what you think we are capable of and EEP really allowed me to do just that.

– Ntuthuko Motha

From doing the project, I learned a lot of things. Most importantly I learned how to communicate well with different people. Distributing the Spekboom plants and explaining more about what the plant is and what it does was a new experience for me, and an opportunity to communicate and build relationships with the people in the community. Working on this project has been impactful, being able to see many homes in the community having the Spekboom plants in them has brought a lot of pride and joy. And knowing that we as young people(founded by the EEP) are able to make change in the community and make the environment a more safe and carbon-free place is a dream come true and an amazing experience.

– Precious Mkhwanazi

This has been a very fun project for me to work on. It made me get out of my comfort zone when we were distributing the plants, and I learned that small acts that we do can save mother nature.

– Mandy Makhubela