Alina Ralehokodia (52) said four years ago she was "just making simple dresses". Now she is doing so well in crocheting and needle work that one of her dresses for little kids received a second place at the Bloem Show.
This is largely due to Mamelo, a service learning community project of the University of the Free State. This project is offered at the university's experimental farm Lengau just outside Bloemfontein.
Final-year students of the Department of Consumer Science helped Ralehokodia and seven other unemployed women over the past six months to improve their skills.
Doretha Jacobs, a technical officer in this department, has been working for the past four years with these women. Their workshop on the farm has made the costumes for the production Hairspray; they make covers for chairs, napkins, curtains and they have even made body bags for the medical faculty.
Rachel Nasty (55), another of the women that the project is empowering, says: "I can do everything. I can make clothes for my kids. "
Approximately forty students helped with the project. As part of their course they should be involved in community development. The workshop at Lengau is equipped with sewing machines donated by this UFS department and the Bloemfontein Municipality.
Petro Swart, a lecturer in the Department of Consumer Science, said the project eventually became much more than simply the transfer of skills.
"It was a wonderful experience for the students and women."