Paula shares Woza Moya’s story of hope

THE Highway Mail spoke to Woza Moya’s delightfully resourceful, talented and creative executive manager, Paula Thomson, to find out how the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust’s economic empowerment project weathered the Covid-19 lockdown and its way forward during these financially uncertain times.

Thomson has been at Woza Moya for 18 years and worked in partnership with HACT for two years as a volunteer while she was a teacher at Thomas More College.

Together with her students, she worked with the NPO as part of an outreach programme. She said this was the beginning of Woza Moya.

“All of the proceeds made at Woza Moya benefit the crafters themselves. We try to put as much money back into the community as possible. We also have to cover staffing to run our organisation,” she said.

ALSO READ: Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust’s Home Gardens bring relief to hungry families

“Woza Moya was set up as a care project of HACT, when it started 30 years ago. Two nurses were going out into the community caring for very sick patients, there were some very desperate situations and the nurses came across some very dire circumstances where four year olds were caring for their parents,” said Thomson.

Woza Moya was realised as a way for rehabilitated patients to earn an income and independence and retain their health.

The shop’s initial mandate was to work with home-based carers and help them generate an income. Later, Woza Moya added in rehabilitated patients and had an open door policy for artists and traditional crafters.

What were your hopes and dreams for Woza Moya when it first started? We were very focussed on trying to help as many patients/home-based carers earn a sustainable living wage. Eighteen years ago Woza Moya was two plastic buckets, one filled with AIDS Ribbons and one with Christmas decorations. Very few of the initial group could do beadwork and we had to start at the very beginning with sharing our skills and slowly learn new patterns and develop new products. We had no budget for marketing or packaging, so everything had to be done step by step. When we sold one necklace we had money to buy another one, and Woza Moya really grew like that. Our whole focus has always been to create as much income in the Valley of 1000 Hills so that we can see positive change in our communities. We are starting to see the fruit of 20 years labour of love, with many crafters’ children going to university.

How many others goals have you reached that you didn’t even think were possible? Building our own shop was a massive achievement. We worked out of the converted garage and attached architect’s shed for so long. It was small and could not accommodate many visitors at once. Our new shop was built with the money we received from selling the Dreams for Africa Chair and we felt this was the best investment for our funds. Building the dreams for Africa Map for the stadium and the biggest beaded billboard for Toyota was also something that we never thought was possible, yet we did.

What is the one item you are absolutely proud of in the Woza Moya store? I love our Little Traveller, this little guy has created so much work for so many people. He/she is truly a little lifesaver. It is the first product we teach new crafters to do and a woman can earn some money on the same day they come in. This is a massive driver and brings so much hope.

ALSO READ: Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust’s youth rise to the challenge

How has the lockdown affected the store and its beneficiaries? This has been a tragic time as many crafters are in desperate need. We have a little bit of work trickling in from overseas and we are sharing it between crafters as much as we can. The shop has had very few customers. We have also been lucky as we were able to fundraise before we closed and gave each crafter a small stipend. We also distributed food parcels to those in need and those crafters we cannot give orders to. Woza Moya stores are open from Monday to Saturday.

Woza Moya HACT is open from 8am to 4pm on week days and from 8am to 2pm on Saturdays.

Woza Windermere is open from 8.30am to 5pm on Monday to Friday and on a Saturday from 9am to 2pm. Woza Embocraft is open from Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm.    

Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting

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