A connection between London and South Africa could help support people across the ocean to earn a better living.

My Sisters’ Place microenterprise program – which helps women struggling with housing and mental health to design and create jewelry to gain financial independence – has had a visit from a community development centre in a suburb of Limpopo.

Sarah Bergs, founder of Nourish Eco Village, a South-African non-profit organization, is visiting the city to look at microenterprise links between her organization and My Sisters’ Place’s program.

Hoping to bring a new alternative to the community back home, Bergs’s goal is to develop a jewelry microenterprise program.

The founder also is spreading awareness about South Africa’s issues, such as poaching and social and economic challenges.

“It’s really hard to raise money for people right now back home. So this is a way for me to kind of figure out how to keep the wheels turning, because I have this phenomenal team of local community members doing all the work looking after children and running the program,” Bergs said.

Lynn Blumas, the now-retired cordinator of My Sisters’ Place microenterprise program, first linked the program to Africa by shipping unused beads to women operating a microenterprise business in Sudan while also travelling to Nairobi and other impoverished communities to make them self-sustainable.

However, due to financial problems, Blumas ran into challenges to keep sending the beads across the ocean. “If we could get a container to donate, that would be incredible. And that’s not an impossible thing. It would be amazing to see something like that,” she said.

Networking with other women and learning about what works for a microenterprise business is a valuable experience for Bergs, who would like to emulate how My Sisters’ Place has been running its microenterprise while learning about its beading and crafting skills.

For Bergs and Blumas, supporting the community and giving them the tools to thrive through microenterprise is one of their many common ideas.

“A lot of the women who came here (My Sisters’ Place) were on OW (Ontario Works), but now, they’re not. They’re self-sufficient,” Blumas said.