How women are impacting the mohair industry
It is always lovely to meet our producers' wives and hear their stories, and in this case, we had the privilege of meeting Karen Eybers, wife of Leon Eybers at the Karoo Angoras Ram sale held at Baakensrug, where she shared her inspiring story with us.
Rietbron Youth Show
Karen is a farmer’s wife, a mother, and a teacher at the local school in Rietbron and her story started in August 2021.
Rietbron is made up of many low-income families with socio economic challenges hence the quantile 3 school (non-fee-paying school). Drug and alcohol abuse is high, and this impacts the children directly as discipline is lacking at home and spills over into the schools. It is difficult to not feel hopeless in the reality of the situation.
Karen mentioned that when you see children, aged 10 – 14 smoking dagga, it keeps you awake at night! She prayed hard and asked for guidance and then the answer came; to involve the local school children in the youth show (Karen initially knew absolutely nothing about youth shows and had no experience in this area). She chatted to Corné Nel the local BKB field officer about her idea and he offered to help Karen by going to Rietbron to teach the children how to handle Angora goats and get them ‘Youth show fit’.
Karen then asked the learners from age 11 years and older at the primary school where she teaches who would like to learn how to handle angora goats and take part in a youth show – 57 children put up their hands!!!! In her wildest dreams she never anticipated this kind of response.
“No problem, bring all 57, we will teach them the basics, and everyone will have a turn to try their hand at this.” said Corné
The Eybers farm is 21km’s from Rietbron and the angora goats needed to be collected from the veld and transported into the village so that the children could and can work with them. The learners have practised, practised, and practised some more! The goats aren’t trained for these events.
The children were taught to respect the angora goat, and how to handle it in the correct way. This required concentration, focus and discipline, and it was a challenging experience for many of the children. Corné could identify those that had a natural feel for working with the goat and 13 children in the 12- 13 year age group were selected. Karen was very sensitive about those that didn’t make the selection and was going to expose them to the handling of goats at the practices.
In March 2022, Karen strapped all 13 children (all dressed in their best outfits) into her vehicle and drove them to the Beaufort West Agricultural Show where they took part in their first ever Youth Show. Most of these children had never left Rietbron before, thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The competition was stiff, yet her children concentrated hard and did so well. They came 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th in their various age groups. Karen says that these children are naturals and very talented.
After the success at Beaufort West, they set their eyes on the Willomore Angora Show November 2022.
In February 2023 Karen drove 12 children to the Willomore Boerbok show, for boys and girls aged 11 years and over. Kobus Lötter kindly helped organise angora goats for the show. The children again excelled and she saw them become stronger and more confident.
Back in the classroom Karen noticed that these children started performing better in their school work, and the discipline problems became something of the past. Many of these children struggle at school and had never succeeded at anything. But as their confidence grew, Karen noticed that they started caring and taking pride in being part of this group.
Their parents and families were proud of their achievements, and so the conversations changed.
Farmers and farm workers in this area make their livelihood from farming and working with angora goats and mohair. The goat is a common denominator, so it makes sense for the children to be taught to respect, care for and work with these animals. These goats keep the whole community together. Karen is hopeful that many of these children could find future success working on mohair producing farms.
Karen selflessly provided each of them with t-shirts (which she would love to have printed in the future) and provides packed lunches for all their road trips. The local school helps her by contributing towards the fuel costs to and from these events and she even gives those who do not have the R20 pocket money to buy a snack after the event.
While chatting to Karen at the ram sales, she mentioned that white gumboots would be the next big-ticket item for them.
Sanmarie Vermaak, SAMGA manager, who is equally passionate about youth shows, jumped into action, and arranged for SAMGA to donate 13 pairs of white gumboots for these children. These gumboots will also be used to teach gum boot dancing to the children who are interested.
Sanmarie said that it was a privilege to be able to sponsor the Rietbron youth show children with a pair of white gumboots for their shows! Her message to the children:
“May your love for the angora goats become so strong that you decide to work with them after school, whether it is on a producer's farm or on your own.”
Her message to Karen:
“On behalf of SAMGA, I want to thank you for being willing to give of your time, knowledge, and love to these children. It is a privilege to share this piece today.”
Karen, we honour you for your passion for making a difference, and your acts of kindness that you have shown towards these school children. This has impacted their lives and their families lives and has added value to the Rietbron community, not to mention how many other people this story will inspire.
Should anyone want to reach out to Karen Eybers, her email address is: karen.eybers101@gmail.com
Everyone has a story and many of these are inspiring and helpful to others, so we ask you to share them with us so that can share this in our industry.