South Africa – In a world brimming with untapped talent, there lies a remarkable opportunity to empower young girls and harness their potential as business builders. Project Bring Joy by Project Org and Rehana Cajee, Business owner Rooibos Healer, is all about empowering young girls to create a better future for themselves.
It is a deeply unfortunate reality that women often find themselves in vulnerable situations when they experience the loss of their husbands. Cajee joined Annique Rooibos as a consultant eight years ago and then built a business for herself. What first started out as a “side hustle” turned into a way to look after her children after the demise of her husband. Her business has helped improve the lives of people and with that in mind, she now wants to help the youth improve their own lives through empowering them.
“We know the struggles of teens. When I was in hospital last year, there was quite a few teenagers who had attempted suicide. This made me question how I could make a difference. Our aim is to educate young girls on healthy eating and taking care of their body and bringing joy into their lives. There are cost effective ways to do this and we have the solution. We also want to assist as many girls as we can and guide them to start a part time business while helping them earn an income.”
Empowering not just the youth
The project has set its sights on Orlando High School but Cajee hopes to introduce it to every high school across the country. Furthermore, her objective isn’t just to empower young girls but also older women who have the skills and passion but haven’t been given the opportunity and support to do something with it.
“Our aim is to reach as many schools as we can but we don’t only want to reach schools. We want to reach the women out there. Women who think they can’t do it, who think that they can’t provide for themselves. It is possible.”
Cajee used herself as an example. A person who couldn’t speak on radio or in front of a crowd is now able to do so. Any obstacle in life can be climbed over with help and Cajee sees herself as being the person who can help these women. Who can mentor them and assist them.
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What Project Bring Joy entails
At the moment, Cajee and her team are raising funds for the project. Their first meeting will be with the Orlando High School girls where they will be distributing pamper hampers as well as having a talk surrounding their health and dealing with peer pressure. Cajee has appealed for people to come forward to offer any help they can.
“As I always say, in teamwork there’s no I, it’s we. Together I think we can do this and together we can make a difference and we never know where this can take us.”
Rehana Cajee spoke to Inayet Wadee on her Project Bring Joy and the impact she hopes it will have. To her that discussion, listen to the podcast here:
