Skills training takes place at workshops held in the GAPA centre and in the groups held in grandmothers homes. Apart from the monthly 3 day workshops there are also workshops held whenever a need arises. A series of beading workshops was held facilitated by an expert beader form the Kidzpositive project.
The Stephen Lewis foundation supported the training of 80 grandmothers in business skills by an expert from Zenzele, a Khayelitsha training project.
Sewing, patchwork and knitting workshops have been held facilitated by experts in the field.
All training is conducted in the mother tongue of the grandmothers, isiXhosa, and if possible is facilitated by a grandmother. The group leaders take advantage of all workshops run by ‘Age in Action’ and are expected to teach others in their groups.
The gardening workshops have encouraged grandmothers to start up vegetable gardens at their homes.
In a shack area where there was no space for a group to create a vegetable garden, the group leader negotiated with the headmaster of a local school to allow them to create a garden in the school grounds. The garden is very successful.
