The last month was a whirlwind. School started on August 27th and ever since, I have felt like I have been treading water. My life has turned into school, school, school with little to no social life. But some major things happened last month, like one of my dearest friends got married. I also got to see some of my best friends in the world, which was amazing! I am so thankful that we got to have this time together and to share this joyous union together. The last exciting thing that occurred in September is that I became an Aunt! Yup, I am now a proud Auntie and I am so excited to watch this tiny tiny tiny person grow up. I can't wait for her to get bigger so I can have conversations. I think we will have lots of fun together.
Also last week, my social enterprise program held a launch event for our program. It was really fun and inspring day. I have some amazing members of my cohort. Here is the summary of the event from the Social Enterprise Association blog that I work on and why I don't write here anymore (sorry!). Seth Goldman of Honest Tea is such a great speaker and even better mentor. I am really thankful for the opportunity to work with him. It was such an awesome event, so check out the slideshow below (which amazing works here, but not on the Wordpress site- oye!!)
To the left is a sign that I see everyday at my office. My internship is for an NGO that is located at Old Mutual, an international financial services group that provides
investment & savings, insurance, asset management and retirement
solutions and one of biggest employers in South Africa. It is an organization known for its social corporate responsibility and entrepreneurship. The executive director of my organization use to work for Old Mutual and took early retirement so that she could give back to the community that she was a part of.
Mhani Gingi was created in 2006 and strives to provide innovative business
solutions which are sustainable and profitable and contribute towards
alleviating poverty in South Africa. The work that I am doing is focused on the business training, skills development and mentorship. I have also gone out in the township community for our social corporate responsibility projects, which focus on education for children from an early age education with informal day care centers or crèche. The work at Mhani Gingi is extremely rewarding and I have learned so much. I would love to work an organization and continue to do this type of work in the future. It's nice is so nice to know what I want to be when I grow up!
L to R: Crazy & inconsistent trains at Cape Town Station, mural in RGG crèche, inside of CWD which houses one of our projects, technical sewing training, sights outside of CWD in Gugulethu, mobile in Nyanga, mini taxi station, pig mural in kitchen in RGG, kids playing soccer outside of an early learning center, banana muffin from Mutual, Tsiba innovation center, which houses one of our garden, and a school that teaches social enterprise, wacky looking pine tree in Gugulethu, visit to RGG, riding back home to Cape Town, RGG mural, and little kiddies at RGG.
I am excited- it is something that I've wanted to learn more about as it relates to Social Enterprise and relates to my interests in design, art, creativity, politics, problem-solving, social causes, and thinking out of the box. Also, the movie is being played at a very cool venue - a new hip and happening coffee shop - Truth Coffee and featuring pizza from a gourmet food truck called Limoncello. All the things I love & want in one evening! Wohoo!
W/ that theme of movies - I saw this trailer over the weekend on africasacountry.com twitter feed. It is a trailer for a movie about punk music in Africa, featuring National Wake, a multi racial South African punk rock band. I think it sounds so awesome and I would love to see it. This movie apparently covers how South African bands dealt with politics during apartheid. So interesting!
