JTS and Eswatini – Changing Lives One Jar at a Time
A Case Study - Angel Matsenjwa
Four years ago, Eswatini Kitchen migrated from its well-known place of residence (Manzini-MITC) to its new premises in the tranquil Sidvokodvo area, 20 km from the City of Manzini. Business leaders, Carlos and Sonia Pavia, have successfully carried the mandate of Eswatini kitchen by creating employment for disadvantaged communities and supporting small holder farmers and women from impoverished backgrounds.
Over 90% of Eswatini Kitchen staff are women, with many of them being single mothers. We strongly believe that with the work Eswatini Kitchen has created for the women, their financial and social freedom has been positively impacted. Meet Angel Matsenjwa, the cutting supervisor in our food processing factory. She is one of the remarkable women that Eswatini has had the pleasure of working with for over 13 years owing to her contented persona. She first joined Eswatini Kitchen in 2003 as a casual employee and was offered permanent employment in 2004. For the past 14 years, Angel has worked with processing fruits and vegetables which are the key ingredients of Eswatini products. Her line of working entails treatment of fruits and vegetables by washing in chlorinated water, removal of stems, peeling, deseeding and loading into the relevant processing machine. This kind of work requires perseverance and discipline and by virtue of her expertise she has been able to execute her job successfully.
Not only has she worked in the cutting department, but she has also proved competent in job rotations in the event where a helping hand is required to wrap up the day’s work in the Cooking department. When speaking to the mother of four, she strongly emphasised that she is truly grateful for the employment opportunity which has enabled her to feed, clothe and school her children aged 17, 12, 11 and 3 as she is a single parent. She also affirmed that by being fairly traded, Eswatini Kitchen has done an extraordinary job of being committed to non-discrimination and freedom of association, stating that the company has helped her overcome her life challenges by providing some comfort that even though she a single parent, coming to work every day keeps her mind occupied, also providing her financial freedom to cater for her needs.
She does however wish for Eswatini to get more orders to ensure undying success of the business and possibly provide further skilful development opportunities for her and her co-workers as well as empowering more woman farmer producers. The skills and training that Eswatini has provided to its employees was also narrated as life changing, relating to how she envisions herself as a food catering business woman, implementing the food safety and quality skills acquired from Eswatini Kitchen. She deeply appreciates and acknowledges the upgrade in the food safety system from HACCP to FSSC 22000, which has enabled the company to exceed its customer’s expectations thus obtaining global recognition.
In general, her experience of Eswatini Kitchen’s new facilities has been rewarding and will be memorable for years to come. She particularly admires how she can freely manoeuvre around her spacious working environment with multipurpose equipment that has made her job easier by being more efficient, time saving and volume based. When asked what motivates her and keeps her coming to work every day? “I have made positive work relations with my co-workers over the years that encourage me on my weary days because we are entitled to freedom of association at work”, she said. “I am also grateful for the fact that I do not have to spend on transport costs since the company transports us to and from work”. “I love my job-it keeps my fitness in check from all the lifting and movement from one working station to another” she said gracefully as she weighed some pears in readiness for processing.
Please support Eswatini so that their good work can continue and together, we can change more lives for the better, one jar at a time.
A Partnership spanning 10 years – think of the good we can do in the next 10 with YOUR support!
