{"language":"en","basics":{"language":"en","title":"Expanding the eco-friendly cloth nappy industry in South Africa","description":"

Hello to everyone\nreading this...\n

My family and me\n(husband, me and our four beautiful girls, ages one to seven) have\nfinally decided to take a big leap in our lives and move 960km\n(almost 600 miles) away from all and everything we’ve ever known.\nWe will be moving to a small but growing town, where our children\nwill be able to live free and safely. The great thing about a\ngrowing community is that there is so much opportunity and with the\ninternet, options are endless.\n

We are a home-school\nfamily so I stay home with the children during the day while my\nhusband goes out to work.\n

When my eldest was 5\nyears old (she is now 7), she asked me to teach her how to read and\nwrite. I had difficulty finding good material in our Afrikaans\nlanguage and researched different teaching methods. I started\ndesigning exercises for her to do. Since she wanted to read and\nwrite I worked out a method so that she could learn both\nsimultaneously. These exercises grew into a book and my husband\nmotivated me to publish it. The book is called “Kyk mamma, ek leer\nlees en skryf” (“Look mommy, I can read and write”) - link to\nbook\nhttps://scribonovus.co.za/product/kyk-mamma-ek-leer-lees-en-skryf/.\nShortly after publishing it my husband (who is fluent in Afrikaans\nand English) helped me translate it into English\n(\nhttps://scribonovus.co.za/product/look-mommy-i-can-read-and-write/).\nThe book is available in hardcopy and pdf. (for home-print)\n

A few months after\nwe self-published our first book, my second (she was 3 at the time)\nalso wanted “to do school”. Since she was still so young, I\ndesigned a “play-book” where she got introduced to different\nthings, shapes, colours, numbers, letters ect. This book is called\n“\nKyk\nmamma, ek word groot\n” (Look\nmommy, I am growing up\n) and of course we translated this one into\nEnglish as well. It is also available in both hardcopy.

My eldest was\nlearning so fast I started working on beginner reading series\nfocusing on the vowels “a,e,i,o,u”. I wrote the stories and my\nhusband illustrated the pictures by hand, I then digitally recreated\nall the pictures. Our beautiful creation, “\na,e,i,o,u\nBeginner Leesreeks\n” can be found here.\nThis book has not been translated to English. Rhymes do not\ntranslate well. It is available in pdf and hardcopy.

My latest book “Kyk\nmamma, ek leer nommers\n” (Look\nmommy, I can do number\ns)is a foundation phase math book for Grade\n0 or Grade 1, depending on the child’s development. Also\ntranslated into English. The math book is currently only available\nin pdf format, I am saving to get it in print. This Scribo Novus\nEducation (\nhttps://scribonovus.co.za/)\nis my one business, but I also have another...

(All my books were\ncreated using Linux software, LibreOffice, Inkscape, Scribus and\nGimp.)\n

Being home with my\nchildren I actually had the time to teach myself sewing using the\ninternet, Youtube and loads of practice. September 2017 Bernina\nhosted a competition where you had to submit three incontinence adult\ncloth nappies to enter. Since I am environmental-friendly, “use\ncloth diapers on my own children”, a sewist and really needed a new\nsewing machine I decided to enter. I won second place and my price\nwas a Bernette sewing machine and overlocker (manufactured by Bernina), I was so thrilled!

In the beginning of\nthis year (2018) I decided to start making cloth nappies and sent out\nmy first testers in February. My little business, “Boegoe Bugz”\nis an expansion on “Die Hekel Hoekie” (The crochet corner). My\nmain focus for Boegoe bugz was custom-made nappies, but I soon\nlaunched my very own and unique “Cloth Denim Nappy”. I added\nergonomical baby carriers, mama cloth (reusable sanitaryware for\nwomen) and children’s clothing to my list. I also recently\nlaunched a “Budget Nappy” that will be economical, locally made\nand still great quality.

Link to the BB Baby Carrier youtube video:\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwNfiajrNt4&t=13s\n\t
\n

Both my businesses\nare still very small and don’t generate much of an income yet. I\nam in need of an industrial sewing machine for my baby carriers (I\ncurrently use a 1950’s vintage Empisal) and an industrial\noverlocker (my Bernette overlocker is taking quite some strain). I\nwant to expand both my businesses to make a decent income and with us\nmoving to a growing community both my businesses will be an asset\nthere (still running online of course). If I can acquire stronger\nmachines, buy my supplies in bulk and print my books in bulk, I will\nbe able to manufacture my products faster and sell them at the best\nprices possible.\n

I want to get a shop\nin the new town to sell my products as well as hiring people to help\nme sell and manufacture. I also plan to start a charity organisation \nwhere donors can sponsor a mom with her own stash of cloth nappies.\n

So that’s why I am\nhere, to ask you to help fund my growing businesses. This is\na great opportunity for me to take that leap.\n

Money will be\ndistributed as follows:\n

\nMoving fees –\nR20 000 ($1420)
\nIndustrial\nsewing machine – R10 000 ($710)\n
\nIndustrial\noverlocker – R10 000 ($750)\n
\nBulk printing\nof books – R25 000 ($1780)\n
\nShop start-\nand setup costs – R15 000 ($1070)\n
\nBulk sewing\nsupplies for manufacture of Budget nappies – R30 000 ($2200)\n
\nIf more than\nthe requested amount is funded, it will go towards a Cover-seam stitch\nMachine saving
Total: $7890

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Thank you for helping me grow my passions into a business. I am sincerely grateful.

Louise Jones

"},"project":"fundition-wh561fntd","content":"project","tags":["myfundition","en","writing","business","ecology"],"app":"fundition"}