In post apartheid South Africa, women in a township outside Johannesburg are empowering themselves to provide financial support for their families and local community through a project called Kopanang, which provides an opportunity for women to earn money making and selling embroidered goods. Jabulile Ndaba, one of the women in the collective, is part of a small group of women learning leadership skills and facing the challenges of eventually running the collective as the Irish nun overseeing operations prepares to leave.
With a husband who drinks away his earnings and a son headed on a path of drug addiction, the challenges of Jabulile’s home environment create greater obstacles in her growth as a successful leader in the collective, and it is uncertain whether this group of women will be prepared to take over the operations of Kopanang. In a community afflicted with extreme poverty, governmental neglect, and limited opportunities, the women of Kopanang are a determined few working to affect change in their community. -MR