South Africa Experience — First Stop Christel House

We load off the bus to the sound of African drums and singing. I’m immediately tight in the chest and prickly behind my eyes. We get right into the middle of the dancers who are welcoming us to Christel House South Africa. The students dancing and gathered around are welcoming about 50 women and girls from the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) and they are just the opener to an afternoon that has changed me. The best part is that my 11 year old daughter Madison is here to experience it too as she is attending the Dell Girl’s Track which takes alongside the main event.

I’m in Cape Town, South Africa for three days with Dell at their annual Women’s Entrepreneur Network summit. It’s my first year attending. My friend Jen Evans, serial entrepreneur and founder of SqueezeCMM and B2B News Network, convinced me the 30 hour journey from California would be worth it. I’ve been here 5 hours and I already know she’s right.

Christel House is a fully paid school in its simplest description and a center for empowerment, hope and community change as an ecosystem. Their stated mission is to help children break the cycle of poverty, realize their hopes and dreams and become self-sufficient members of society. As the headmaster opened the day he declared that they are not a not-for-profit and not a non-governmental organization, they are a business and they are in the business of ensuring that children have a seat at the table.

We’re here to meet and work with their entrepreneurial graduates.

After the dancing and warm welcome we are grouped off with students who have graduated from Christel House. Most of them have already started their own businesses and some are almost ready to launch. We spend more than an hour discussing their business and questions they have. I’m at the table of Chiwayita Matole who is a burgeoning artist. I leave with one of her paintings and a fire to figure out how to help her. After our in-depth sessions, current Christel House students read out the summary of the discussions from each group. Our day finishes with more dancing and singing with the students and this time it includes the DWEN women.

Dell is a sponsor of Christel House and equips the students with technology to accelerate the skills they’ll need as they look to university and work. Dell’s participation with Christel House is a beautiful example of a corporate sponsorship done right. The students use Dell technology, Stewart Van Graan, Managing Director of Dell Africa is a long time board member and through the DWEN event, Dell has opened up a group of women to the possibilities of how their companies can impact their communities.

Christel House accepts students from the poorest, most violent regions around Cape Town. The services they provide include breakfast and lunch which are often the only meals the students will have, full time medical services, social workers/counselors and college and career programs to support graduates into post secondary school and the world of work.

As we load back on the bus at the end of the day I don’t want to go yet. I want to talk to more students and hear about their dreams. Madison and I have decided to work towards raising enough money to fund one student for a year as a way to stay connected and support their wonderful mission. There is so much more to come from this event and if this was all I had to remember it’s been worth the journey.

�SLIu