Patricia touches lives
2006-02-09
PAARLITE Patricia Mtyola is no ordinary housewife. When she sees a need in her community, she approaches it head first and hands on.
In 2004 Patricia was personally affected by the Aids pandemic, when her sister was diagnosed with the disease.
Thereafter she came into contact with Aids patients on a daily basis and realised that they were not only being neglected by their community, but many had even been ousted by their own families.
This is when Patricia decided to use the little resources she had to reach out and touch the lives of the less fortunate.
Her main concern was that many HIV positive patients were not receiving a decent meal.
Originally from the Eastern Cape, Patricia has the talent for creating traditional Xhosa clothing which is beautifully embroidered.
She put a team of women together whose lives had been affected by Aids and together they create stunning gowns which are sold to generate money for food.
But Patricia’s enthusiasm did not stop there. Her heart led her into poultry farming, as this could creates work as well as providing food.
With the help of her husband, Tony, who is currently unemployed, they started to build hen houses in their backyard and bought a few laying hens.
She now has seven young people who are all HIV positive, who assist her in running the poultry farm.
They raise the chickens to lay eggs on a profit sharing basis.
“Currently we are still in the process of establishing a market for our eggs, but at least these people now have food on the table,” Patricia said.
“I am very unhappy when I see people being neglected, and I think that I can create jobs for more people as my business grows.”
Patricia has even more ideas for the future.
She would like to combine her traditional clothing business with tourism, and create a restaurant at her house, serving traditional Xhosa cuisine for tourists.
“But I must first take one step at a time."
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