Being a Mamandla fellow as a health professional means an opportunity to bridge the gap between clinician and patient, to be part of the solution and not the problem. It’s an opportunity to not only hold a space for them but to learn how to advocate for a better future.
I’m a speaker and always focused on making sure we have what we need in this life.
I have contributed to holding the South African government accountable for this inhuman practice, from the National DoH to Section 19 organizations such as the Commission for Gender Equity and the office of the Public Protector.
Being selected as a Mamandla Fellow/Alumni holds profound significance for me. It signifies an opportunity to collaborate with like-minded individuals, nurture my leadership abilities, and make a meaningful impact in the field of motherhood support and advocacy. I am thrilled to join a community that shares my unwavering passion for empowering mothers and driving positive change in the lives of families.
I take the role of continuing to support younger and new mothers as well as those who have been on the journey for longer in all my lives as a professional and one who lives and operates in a rural, urban and global contexts.
I am hoping to connect with like-minded women to grow and shift society norms to a mother-centric approach. I am feeling excited to come together with other women who favour this model of community and women-led empowerment!
As a mother myself I think it’s a responsibility of every mom to share love and support to those in need. To be a Mamandla Fellow, I want to continue learning and gaining more wisdom from other women to make a different in my community. I want to share many universal experiences and, most importantly, to make every woman to rise by lifting each other.
The Mamandla Fellowship is uniquely designed as an accessible opportunity for mother-supporters who wish to lead a pro-mother agenda for social change in South Africa. The Fellowship is a year-long journey that includes compulsory in-person engagements, on-line learning and ad-hoc community conversation amongst the fellows. Attendance and participation at all fellowship engagements is compulsory. The Fellowship is designed to build community and networking. It is not an individual learning journey and fellows commit to showing up for each other during their fellowship journey. Every effort will be made to support logistics for participation. There will be no monetary contribution required for Fellows.
After a year of careful planning, learning, listening and conversing, Embrace, the Movement for Mothers, has launched a series of short films in partnership with Makhulu Media that exposes the pervasiveness of obstetric violence in South Africa.
Coinciding with the internationally recognised 16 Days of Activism period, Embrace, a social movement for mothers, teamed up with filmmakers and impact agency Makhulu Media to expose the extent of obstetric violence in our country. Through research and interviews, Push Comes to Shove, shows that obstetric violence is a common yet preventable barrier to accessing quality and dignified healthcare.