Jane Bronkhorst grew up in a loving and caring home in Cape Town. She studied Hotel Management and Hospitality after completing her schooling and worked for 13 years in the hotel industry. During that time she married and gave birth to her son. When her marriage collapsed, she returned to Cape Town but her personal circumstances deteriorated and she lost financial independence. With a six-month old daughter to care for, she booked herself into a shelter for women and attended a four-month recovery programme.
This led to her meeting in 2017 with Mhani Gingi, where she is today Assistant Supervisor with responsibility for the Restoring Dignity Liquid Soap-Producing Enterprise factory, the spekboom project, and the several Mhani Gingi Ladles of Love soup kitchens operating in vulnerable communities around Cape Town. “I am currently almost five years in recovery,” says Bronkhorst. “Mhani Gingi gave me a safe space and environment where I could find myself again and be me. I also gained back my self-confidence to work with people again.
“My first experience was to learn how to make natural hand liquid soap, I never knew how that was done, and now through the Mhani Gingi Nursery I am learning about planting and growing.
“My hopes and dreams are to have a home of my own for myself and my daughter and that she can go and study one day.”