Wonderbag Founder Sarah Collins inspires attendees of the Future Women of Africa Conference
On the 29th of July 2015, Sarah Collins, Founder of the Wonderbag and its holding company – Natural Balance Global, addressed a group of women at the Future Women of Africa conference in Hillcrest, Durban and donated a Wonderbag to every person in attendance.
This conference was hosted by the well-known Robin Hood Foundation and was attended by 1 200 young women between the ages of 15 and 36. The conference formed part of the Foundations’ 10th anniversary celebrations whereby members wanted to do something special and substantial that could affect real change in the lives of young South African women.
The Future Women of Africa conference began on the 28th of July and took place over two days. The up and coming young ladies who attended the conference hail from disadvantaged communities and were put forward by various aid organisations like Christian Social Services, Hillcrest Aids Centre, Focus on Ithemba, Sethani Organisation and others. The young women applied to attend and were admitted free of charge. Initially the conference was set to only take on 1000 attendees but due to the overwhelming response from young women who wouldn’t normally have had the opportunity to attend a conference of this nature, the number was increased to cater for an additional 200 people.
This conference’s main aim was to educate and empower these women to go out and affect positive change in their personal lives and, eventually, the world at large. According to Kim Griffith Jones from the Robin Hood Foundation who coordinated the event they were thrilled to have Collins speak at the conference. “Our intention was for all these young women to leave here with a true-to-life, inspirational message and Sarah was the perfect person for the job! She told us about her unwaivering belief in the personal power of women to change their own lives and the world they live in. She also engaged with the delegates about the possibility of becoming Wonderpreneurs and how the product can be used for entrepreneurial purposes. With every women receiving a Wonderbag donated by the Wonderbag Foundation, they are already on a path for positive change,” said Griffith Jones.
Collins was delighted to be involved with this initiative and was thrilled to see 1 200 Wonderbags go towards such a worthy and empowering cause. These bags will undoubtedly be put to good use in the homes of these future women of Africa. “I always jump at the chance to help empower other women. These young women really are our future and it was fantastic getting to spend time with them and see them start to believe in themselves while absorbing all the fantastic advice and valuable information shared by all the speakers that will help them one day take the world by storm. I really do believe that we all have the power to affect positive change in our own lives and in our communities,” said Collins.
This simple but revolutionary cooking tool will not only help these ladies save on energy, money and time that is spent normally cooking over a fire or stove – but the health benefits and even entrepreneurial opportunities associated to the Wonderbag form part of the many benefits of owning this proudly SA product that just keeps on giving.
This conference is currently a once-off event but organisers are looking to host the event again next year due to the overwhelming response received from the community. The event took place at City Hill Church and other speakers included Cindy Norcott, Gcina Mhlope, Jackie Houston, Sr. Nadene Olley, Kim Griffith-Jones, Fay and Megan Coleman, S’bo Khoza, Mariane Vorster, Monique Labat, Eric Tocknell, Danielle How, Nomfundo Molefe and Darryl Williams. The delegates were also treated to some great entertainment, activations and team building activities.
For more information about the Wonderbag Foundation visit www.wonderbagfoundation.org or find out more about the Wonderbag on www.wonderbag.co.za.