Women of the Year Award

By Lindsey Kin

Lesley Ann van Selm, Founder and Managing Director of the Khulisa Crime Prevention Initiative, was recently presented with the accolade of Woman of the Year for 2010. Since its inception in 1997, following research into the comparisons between African culture and indigenous cultures around the world, which lead to the introduction of literacy-based oral tradition placed back into schools and prisons, the Khulisa Crime Prevention Initiative has gone from strength to strength. 80% of Khulisa is funded by the government – more specifically, by the Department of Social Development. The other 20% is funded by international donors, such as the United Nations (UN); European Union (EU) and the American Government. Publicity Update’s Lindsey Kin, met with van Selm to find out more about her successful Khulisa initiative; thoughts on her much-deserved award; and plans for the future.

Khulisa is a Zulu word, defined as ‘to nurture’. “Taking the whole meaning of the word, which means nurture; strength; support; and encourage; reflects what Khulisa as a company stands for, whether it be nurturing a family, or ending an abusive relationship after 50 years, that is really what we do,” says van Selm, adding, “Everybody has to become a nurturer in order to have a fulfilled environment.”

The aim of the Khulisa Crime Prevention Initiative is to educate and direct vulnerable, at-risk youth and ex-offenders away from crime by teaching them skills; attitudes; and behaviours that will help them to become responsible and self-sustaining members of their community, all of which is achieved through over 22 programmes created by Khulisa. Due to the new law that has been passed in South Africa, stating that a child who commits a petty crime or who is a first time offender cannot go to a prison, these children are referred to either a non-custodial programme, or they are referred to a residential facility for children. “Last year, we had over 6 000 children referred to us by the Department of Social Development, in association with the courts,” says van Selm.

Another successful programme, is the Khulisa Ubuntu Club concept which reached over 360 000 people through the Clubs outreach activities last year, according to van Selm.  The Ubuntu Clubs are common interest groups which are created for young and old to rekindle their sense of ubuntu, and also identify projects where they can make a difference. “We have over 300 in the country, the reach of which is huge.  For example, a group of 30 children, through their outreach activities, can reach up to 5 000 to 10 000 people in a year. ”The club offers a formal curriculum which lasts generally a year, and brings together people with common interest groups, such as those who are pregnant; ex-offenders; unmarried mothers, the elderly or business people - through a creative process, facilitated by a trained community member.  An essential part of the Ubuntu Club process is the running of ‘remember to forget groups’ which create a safe space for young people to tell their secrets and to receive the necessary empathy – in many cases something which, has not happened before . “We have just done research that proves 72% of the children in one of our Ubuntu Clubs, were being abused at that time by their family and they have no-one to go to, so though the solidarity in this club, they then start a very strong support group, and this support group gets taught skills in peer education and how to get in touch with their ubuntu values.” From these Ubuntu Clubs, the youth then go into their community, where they themselves will do a community scan in that area, and find out where they can go out and practice the skills that they have learnt. “Some Ubuntu Clubs have started vegetable gardens; other clubs have stared granny soccer clubs; and some have created literacy and library reading groups; started HIV/AIDS victim support centres; whilst others have started creches.” In their latest development, the Ubuntu Clubs receive funding and are now able to become businesses, in turn creating NGO’s where Khulisa helps them to get funding and become sustainable in the future.

Khulisa uses scientific measurement tools that are built into all of its programmes, where improvement of behaviour, through relationships that people have with themselves and with their external environment, can be tracked. “The outcomes found that we have an over 80% success rate in terms of offenders not relapsing back into prison. With young people who have gone through our court programmes, we have just done research that proves 92% have not re-offended or gone through the prison system after they have gone through our programmes,” articulates van Selm. “With the ‘Silence of Violence’ programme, the course deals with violent behaviour; helps people come to terms with their violent mannerisms; and helps find alternative ways of communicating, and in turn, has also had a huge impact, as the programme is now running in a number of sittings in the UK, and is now our flagship programme.”

Khulisa has now re-strategised and re-positioned the company so that the organisation is now broken down into three distinct brands namely: crime prevention; community development; and enterprise development. “With the enterprise development component, as an example, we are training young people to make ‘top-of-the range’ furniture out of recycled materials - this is very exciting as people have not only gone through a personal development process, but now they are able to engage in something that is very creative and can lead to income generation.”

“What is also very exciting, is that Vodacom is now the first company to develop special software and fund the Ubuntu Clubs, ensuring that we will be connected through cellular technology, so we will now have online peer education; support groups; all sorts of skills such as online communication skills with our cell phones; able to do research; pre- and post-assessments; and attitude surveys, which will put us in a totally different space. We will also be developing special software for ubuntu,” van Selm says.

She continues that she has been lucky to have had a very strong relationship with the police force since the Khulisa initiative started. Most recently, she says, “We have had a meeting with them at their headquarters last week, with their crime prevention unit, and are now looking at least five different strategic ways in which we intend engaging with them. One of these ways is through our Ubuntu Clubs, where many of the youth are now trained as puppeteers.  It is the intention that, together with the police, social issues such as rape; domestic violence; victim empowerment; and drug abuse will be dealt with through puppetry with the police pledging their support around such social ills.”

Van Selm says that when she first went into a prison in 1997, she met the most unbelievable young men. “When I have ex-offenders in our company, I see them as being more special than those who have not offended, because I know the journey that they have travelled. I don’t ever judge people by what they have achieved, I rather look at the distance that they have gone and what an offender has to undo, and the learning that they have had to un-learn; to actually talk about his offence and go and apologise to his victim, I think that these are exceptional people. Having gone through so many hardships, and overcoming them I think is phenomenal, however all is not a smooth road,” van Selm adds, “There is always work required and a lot of support that you need to give.”

On the ‘Reinvent innovations’ involvement with the Khulisa initiative and the Decorex Show Exhibitions around the country, van Selm says, “With our third pillar, enterprise development, Reinvent innovations is one of the enterprise falling within our enterprise division, where we are training groups of young people, either graduates of our prison programme; youth leadership programme; or our Ubuntu club members, on making furniture and other utilitarian items from recycled materials. She adds, “We have committed to participation at the Decorex shows in both Durban and Cape Town next year, during which time we intend selling our best created items to corporates, individuals and those shopping around for new acquisitions.  We have also established our own showroom in Johannesburg where potential buyers can visit and discuss their requirements.  ”

Moving onto van Selm's award for Woman of the Year, she says that the nomination came about from one of her staff members, and that she was not aware of the nomination until they told her she was a finalist. “It was quite interesting, as when the person phoned me, I thought it was someone trying to sell me insurance, so I was very rude to her as I had just burnt my face very badly and, and I was at the plastic surgeon having dressing bandages put all over my face, so I was very irritated that they were trying to sell me insurance at the time – but as soon as I heard that I was a finalist, I knocked all the nurses, syringes and bandages all over, and started dancing in the hospital ward.” Van Selm admits that she is a person who likes to keep a low profile, and tends to always look at the places that she wants to make a difference in, instead of being in the limelight. However, she says, “This has been the most incredible opportunity, and I am so grateful and privileged to have won Woman of the Year award, and especially in the Good Neighbour Category, which has been the most amazing accolade for me, but also for all the staff in this company.” For van Selm, knowing that one can never do anything on their own, she distributed her R30 000 prize money equally amongst every single staff member. “I gave them R100 per year of service in this company, with some being able to receive R1 000, it was fantastic.”

It just shows that if you give one life a chance, and you follow him and you support him, what can be created. Van Selm’s dream is, “in the next few years for social entrepreneurship to become a formal part of the school syllabus for young people, so that they can start thinking about their creating solutions to their own problems.  An intervention such as this will fashion a whole new culture of innovators who, in time, could make a significant contribution to their community.”

Van Selm concluded, “I’m in a hurry to change the world, I don’t let one wasted minute go past”.