SASELEMANE – Old Mutual has been hailed as the saviour by members of Saselemane Brickyard Project, following the donation of R20 000 to the project by the giant insurance company.

Through its Community Building department, Old Mutual donated this money to the project following a proposal made in 2001, thanks to the initiative of Michael Hlomane Sidja (34).

The official handing over of the cheque was made last week Saturday at Saselemane Apostolic Faith Mission church. Sidja, a teacher at Chabane was invited to help in the then struggling project by its leader and founder, Martha Salani (62).

Salani came with the idea of starting this project in 1994. It started as a garden project. "As an unemployed single mother, I decided that it was better to do something that could help me, other women and the community. I then roped in 37 other women, whom I worked with until in 1997 when we changed the project to a brick-making one as there were too many vegetable and garden projects," she said.

Although the project was promising, poor management made it difficult to succeed. It was at this stage that Sidja visited the project for purposes of buying bricks for the building of his house. Salani then asked him to come and help them run the project.

Since he joined the project, Sidja said they have decided that there will be no salaries for members, until when the project is sustainable.

Old Mutual's involvement began when staff member Charles Mabasa took an interest in the project, which operates from a stand next to his home. Mabasa regularly visited the members of the Saselamani initiative and engaged in conversations with them.

Says Mabasa, "When I learned that the members of the Saselamani Brickyard Project were women from the rural community who wanted to improve their standard of living, I felt compelled to assist. I have been part of the project since January 2001 and serve on the committee as project co-ordinator." The donation is in line with Old Mutual's Staff Volunteerism Programme, which encourages staff to become actively involved in sustainable projects in their communities.

The money they were given by Old Mutual was used to buy twenty loads of sand, a new brick making machine which can produce 24 small bricks at once, two wheel barrows, two fork spades, a water pipe and 200 bags of cement.

The other money will be used to hire trucks for the delivery of bricks and sand. Another factor, which makes it difficult for the project to save, is lack of transport. Besides all these difficulties, Salani said she still believes that one day the project will grow bigger to a stage where it will become a big firm that will hire many people.