A GAME park on the outskirts of Gweru is making strides in empowering vulnerable women through giving them basic skills to hone entrepreneurial acumen.
IVAN NDLOVU OWN CORRESPONDENT
Antelope Park, which is about 10 kilometres from the City of Progress, is set to launch a community development project through empowering vulnerable women like single mothers in Mkoba-high density suburb.
Themba Project, set to be launched in May, is aimed at teaching single mothers a six-month long course on textiles and clothing.
The course will be for free.
The founder of the programme, Dianne Jones, who is an employee at Antelope Park, says that she was moved to help women because she saw that single mothers were vulnerable in society.
“Single mothers are usually vulnerable and because they need to fend for themselves and their children, so they are more likely to turn to prostitution if they don’t have any handy skills” she said.
Dianne said women will be taught sewing and design and will be helped to learn the use of modern information and communication technology, so they keep pace with the latest machinery.
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The six-month course will include basic accounting and business literature so that they could know how to handle their own businesses.
“We want the women to be able to make a profit from their sewing, so basic accounting will help them calculate if they are working at a profit,” she said.
Women that will be part of the project will receive free transport from Mkoba to Antelope Park throughout the duration of the programme and after they complete they will be awarded with sewing machines.
Jones said this should help alleviate poverty since mothers would now be able to sew their children’s uniforms, while they could also make others for sale.
Themba Project is being funded by local and international donors that work together with Antelope Park under the department of Antelope Community Engagement.
