Inspirational: Paidamoyo
1 of the ladies at the creche helped my Mwala. The creche is made of old cargo containers.
Paidamoyo is a 27-year old Senior Commercial Administrator, born and raised in Zimbabwe and currently living in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a passionate young lady, one of the many people in this world giving their heart to charitable work. In August 2010, Paidamoyo started an organisation called Mwala, which translates to ‘my rock’ in the language, Chewa.
Even though it is challenging to run Mwala whilst also working full-time, Paidamoyo says, “I decided to start Mwala because it hurts me to see so many people in society struggling, even when they try to make ends meet. I thought they could use an extra boost in addition to their funds, whilst at the same time empowering themselves. My future goals also include helping illiterate children because I believe that education is vital in children’s lives! Once you have education, you make more informed decisions, particularly the girl child. An educated girl is less likely to fall pregnant at a young age, less likely to become a prostitute, and more likely to want to educate not only her own children, but the community”.
Currently Mwala collects anything and everything. Paidamoyo collects the items herself, using her car. Once collected, she goes through everything and redistributes what can be salvaged, resold and/or given away to families for their use. Paidamoyo learns of families who are in need of Mwala’s services through advertising in community bulletins, supermarket info boards, word of mouth and knowing some of the families personally.
To help the families boost their funds, Paidamoyo has set up two second- hand shops for them to run. The first one is based at a crèche in a very poor township called Diepsloot. It is manned by 4 ladies who are teachers at the crèche. The ladies then split the profit amongst themselves and this allows them to have extra income for their families.
The other second-hand shop is in another poor township past Soweto, called Lehae. This shop is run by an ex-cab driver, who Paidamoyo met when she used to ride his cabs. He has had it rough for the past couple of years, with many unfortunate incidents including having many of his cars break down. He also takes instant pictures and whenever Paidamoyo gets her hands on photography equipment, she sends that to him too.
On being asked about her immediate plans, Paidamoyo says, “I am still very much in the early stages, but have a huge vision and I believe that with God in my plans, I can do wonders! For Christmas I am planning to hire a collection driver to collect non-perishable goods for at least 100 families. I am putting together an essentials list which will cost about R50 (equivalent to USD$7). People can either purchase the goods themselves or they can donate cash and I will purchase the goods. I would thus like to register my organisation as soon as possible so that the financial and legal sides to it can be more concrete.
In 5 years time, Paidamoyo would like to have set up 100 second-hand shops, with the shops not only helping the families that run them, but the communities that support them. She would also like to expand into Zimbabwe soon. I was so touched by Paidamoyo’s heart, efforts and vision. It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter whether you are a politician, celebrity, a multi-million dollar corporation etc, each individual can do their bit to help and empower others. In my eyes, Paidamoyo’s efforts are just as worthwhile as those who may have more finances to donate to charities. I think she is just another great example of a woman standing up independently and courageously to make a difference in our world.
To donate to Mwala or contact Paidamoyo, please drop a message on her blog at http://mwala.tumblr.com or contact her in South Africa on 071-606-2110.
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