Refilwe Enterprises

For Non-Government Development Organisations (known in the international development field as "NGDOs") the acquisition of resources is unfortunately a central part of operations. Without consistent access to resources, NGDOs face uncertainties that can jeopardise whole programs. And in community development, jeopardising programs means jeopardising opportunities for reaching people. NGDOs therefore try to maintain consistency and predictability when it comes to their resources.

I have explained before that Refilwe receives resources from many avenues; corporate, church and other individual donations as well as many non-financial resources such as volunteers (some like us, some who come for a day or a week or a day once a week), internet, space, machinery and food. The problem with a reliance on donations is that you become dependent on external forces for resources (like my poem?). This can put an NGDO in the position of having to pander to donors, or to acquiesce to demands and requests about when, where and how resources can be used.

For the most part, Refilwe has great relationships with its donors, but as the poem goes, reliance on outside forces for resources can be problematic. So Refilwe has sought to eradicate some of these problems by establishing its own income-generating enterprises:

The Indigenous Tree Nursery pictured above is one such enterprise. You may remember on our first weekend here, we helped construct the frame that is now the nursery. Inside now grows a few thousand saplings that will be sold to individuals, companies or more commercial nurseries. As with many places these days, indigenous plants are all the rage in South Africa. At the front there (obviously not trees) are worm houses... which we'll get to soon!

The Organic Orchard is another branch of Refilwe's Enterprises (ha ha, I'm on fire today). Inside grows various fruit trees, vegetable and herb plants that are all grown very organically and usually sold to make various jams and canned goods. We bought an artichoke the other day and ate it. It tasted very healthy.
Lastly, but most significantly, we have the worms. Setting up a worm farm and its associated products has been a focus of Refilwe Enterprises since we arrived. We have seen the enterprise grow from an idea, to housing millions of worms in kilos of dirt, to being branded and marketed. Refilwe is not in the worm-selling business, though. What they do is house and feed the worms, then collect the various products created by the worms to sell. The main product is compost, with a pinch of worm cast. MMmm. There is an intricate process to extracting the cast from the worms, which somehow involves the large silver machine below. I haven't actually seen it in action yet, but I have seen the end result, so it must work!

The result of establishing these enterprises should hopefully mean a more autonomous approach to resources for Refilwe. Of course, relationships with donors will always remain central for Refilwe to run successfully, but there is certainly an element of relief that comes with knowing you will always be able to pay the bills!