Creating the results you want, living from your heart
My Arms Wide Open™ foundation in Cradock, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
Two weeks after we completed the program we met all the members of our new family in Cradock at the Masiame Community Centre to check in with each other and share our experieinces after being apart for the past two weeks.
As we arrived at the centre there was such anticipation and excitement. We were greeted with cheers and clapping as we all ran up to each other smiling, laughing and hugging each other.
We moved inside and sat around a long table, there was such a chatter and huge energy in the room as we all shared our experiences over the past two weeks. We then went around the table and each person spoke about the challenges they had faced and how they overcame them, about their successes and the changes in how they felt about themselves. Each person shared their experience as we filmed the group. There was such passion, such emotion and such power as you heard individuals express how they had literally changed the atmosphere in their homes and with friends, how the past two weeks had been the happiest time in their lives for some. Zongezile shared how he had been struggling for nearly a year to find contracts in his construction business and how suddenly as he shared his new found attitude and feeling about himself things just started happening and he now had six jobs going. He shared how he was now talking to his daughter again and how the atmosphere at home is so happy, so positive. In his words he said. “I remember in every interaction and moment to act from my heart and stay out of my head.” Nombulelu shared how after not having her father in her life for most of her life, she found him and talked to him and was able to embrace him one more. Phamala, shared how she was able to go to her Uncle’s funeral and instead of being sad as she usually was, she smiled and was actually happy. The pastor asked her what was different and why she was so happy and she replied,”I live in my heart, I believe in myself and I am happy”.
Others in the gorup shared how they had now been able to get a job, after years of trying and not succeeding. Elias shared how he decided after previous interviews where he had gone in thinking he wouldn’t get the job, he went in this time telling himself he was already hired and he was just there to find was out when to start because he wanted this job so he could learn all about furniture, to be able to start his own furniture manufacturer in the future.
Before leaving each other two weeks prior we had set up a communication system to allow us to communicate and support each other. The system is working and each of the members of the group agrees it is critical for us to remain in communication with each other. We will.
I met with a number of the town leaders we had invited into the session two weeks ago. One decided he would hire one of the group member to work for him, another whom I met with separately because he had not been able to attend the session we did. As an electrician and by the end of our conversation he decided he would take Nini on as an apprentice as an electrician. Nini has been working to achieve this for years. She had not been able to go to University because her teachers had advised her not to do advanced Math and Science in her Grade 12 and therefore she couldn’t apply at the Engineering College because of the lack of Math and Science. She has faced huge personal and family challenges over many years and tried so many different ways to achieve her dream of being an electrician over the past 5 years. She had given up and was working to support her brother to go to Engineering College instead. Now it is her turn.
These are just a few of the stories and the activity taking place within the group as they take the steps to direct their own lives and create the future they want for themselves, their children, families and communities.
The next step is for each of the participants to select a person from their communities that they would like to support and help through and along the same journey as themselves. It can be a family member, a friend or anyone they choose that they want to support.
To support the community of Cradock and make a donation today, visit our site at www.myarmswideopen.org and complete the donation form.
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Manzimvula® is a values-based consulting firm whose purpose is to support organizations who choose to build socially responsible and profitable enterprises that profoundly impact their organizational communities and the individuals they affect in a compassionate and sustainable manner.
The My Arms Wide Open™ Charitable Foundation, was established to provide support and collaboration with mothers, children, and youth in South Africa, enabling them to build sustainable communities and responsible businesses. With stronger families, communities emerge as a solid foundation for society. In the process they re-engage fathers to repair the family unit. In our definition, mothers include women who are caring for children and include child-led households, working within the pre-teen and teen groups. Fathers include the fathers, young males and adult males within the community.
Cradock day 5… Owning my experience and steps to the future
My Arms Wide Open™ foundation in Cradock, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
Our 5th day began with Toni Stuart and Nicole le Roux taking the group through a wonderful body mapping process. Within our bodies created a picture of who we each are right now, surrounded and supported by images and colours representing all the things we would like to become and achieve in our lives. The group shared their deepest desires and hopes and were now able support those desires and hopes with goals and affirmations.
Cradock day 3… Embracing Community and living from the heart
My Arms Wide Open™ foundation in Cradock, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
We started the morning early as usual, everyone all full of energy and ready to greet our guests. We all worked together to prepare the room and make space for the town leaders to join us. We agreed that each member of the family would adopt a town leader and have them sit next to them. So that we all became one big family. At 9:00 AM the members of the town leaders started to arrive. Each of the group went around and introduced themselves and shook the hands of our visitors and led them to their place at our gathering. It was so wonderful to see the eagerness and the lack of fear in how the leadership were approached.
Cradock day 2… Owning our lives and creating our experience
My Arms Wide Open™ foundation in Cradock, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
The energy in our gathering space the second day was wonderful and so warm, so safe. People came eager and full of energy to start the day and even arrived early, ready to take the next steps. Our first day prepared us for the next step in understanding that all we had, each experienced helped us become the significant and important person we are today. Each member of the group truly understood, and for many for the first time, that they are worth it, they really are someone.
We spent the morning looking at, sharing and understanding our own current patterns and process of thought and conversation. We looked at how we can change the way we talk to ourselves, view ourselves and build our own belief systems and changing those belief systems to be able to affect our actions, our behavior and our conversations. The power in asking for and talking about what you actually want versus what you don’t want became apparent to the group as they started to reframe their hopes, dreams and goals.
Cradock day 1… creating a safe environment
My Arms Wide Open™ foundation in Cradock, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
My Arms Wide Open™ is honoured and grateful to have launched our first project in South Africa, working in the Eastern Cape province in the town of Cradock. We are working with a group of 18 people to create an environment for change and growth.
The first day started with caution and some apprehension, not knowing what to expect, as we started our journey. We spent the day building a safe and trusting environment. The group responded with open minds, hearts and trust in the process. The day began with greetings and introductions. As we got to know each other and introduce ourselves, we laid out our path for the following five days and beyond.
Creating the future – Cradock, Eastern Cape, South Africa
My Arms Wide Open™ foundation in Cradock, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
In February of this year I was introduced to the communities in Cradock, a small town in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is a town where there is such a broad and complex set of cultures in a relatively small community, estimated to be somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 people.
When I first arrived here in February of 2010, after not being here for many, many years, I just knew in my heart that this is where I and My Arms Wide Open™ foundation would begin our work in South Africa. I remember Ariella Tilsen, who accompanied me in February, looking at each other and she knew right away and said, “This is where you will begin, this is where it will all start from”. I replied, “Yes, I feel it in my heart, it is where we will start.”
Mothers and Children in South Africa – Join us in our causes
In August we will be taking our next trip to South Africa and working in the Eastern Cape in Cradock. During our trip we will also be visiting Itipini and the Limpopo region in the Northern part of South Africa. We will be sending updates as we progress through our trip to highlight what the people we are working with are doing and how they are taking steps to supporting themselves, their families and communities. Take a look at the following short video to get a sense for what we are doing with the My Arms Wide Open™ Foundation and how you can get involved.
My Arms Wide Open® Cause – My Mentor, My Coach
In many respects, South Africa is on a path of healing and reconciliation. Apartheid has been abolished in the law. Black South Africans hold the highest positions in government. The black professional class is starting to grow including a middle and upper class of income earners in the country The Truth and Reconciliation Commission began the process of helping the country confront its painful history. The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation continues this work in many ways and is now working in a number of countries across Africa. The country’s economy, even during the worldwide economic downturn, is considered strong among African nations, who look to South Africa for leadership on many issues. However, there are still significant challenges with the unemployment rate reaching 24.5% in September 2009. According to the 2009 Recession and Recovery report issued by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, these are only some of the challenges ahead for a country, which has been dependent on raw materials exports and still has to solve issues around economic, political and education hurdles, in the future.
My Arms Wide Open® Cause – My First Steps, My Path
Education in the South African rural and urban township communities is formulaic and focuses on teaching by rote. This moves children through the system but leaves them without the critical thinking skills to become partners in their communities’ development. My Arms Wide Open™ supports children to become life-long learners, instead of just focusing on completing a current assignment.
My Arms Wide Open™ Foundation engages with community leaders and the government at municipal, provincial and national levels to access funding and develop meaningful curriculum's that meet the needs of the communities and the National School System and government requirements. Education is approached by adapting learning to indigenous culture, critical thinking and problem solving. It builds communications skills and drives curiosity and imagination so that the participants learn to leverage the information and resources available to them to make informed choices.
My Arms Wide Open® Cause – My Family, My Community
Across South Africa, communities are in dire need to stabilize and foster healthy growth. In many communities, their lack of infrastructure and social services paralyzes and prevents them from addressing fundamental human needs – worse with no apparent route away from this syndrome. In many rural communities it is estimated that as many as 80% of the population is unemployed, large numbers of people live without family structure, with no access to water or hygiene facilities. In schools, classes are crammed with several grades in one room. Children return home to more children or an over-burdened elder, and too little or no food. HIV/AIDS as well as other problems around crime, drugs and prostitution complicate things even more. The problems are easy to see. The solutions however are highly complex.