My name is Eunice Ndlovu, I did my TFT diploma course in 2022-2023. The impact the diploma had in my life, was that I got self-confidence and self-awareness.
Johari’s Window, a tool that was used, has allowed me to understand that feedback is for my growth. I take feedback positively because I know it enables me to grow as a person as well as to grow in my line of work. The other thing that still comes to me is the reflection and action. I am constantly reflecting and finding different ways of doing things. I look for and spend my time on things that are life-giving and less on things that are not life-giving.
As a mother and a wife at home, I’ve changed the way that I used to be. It used to be my voice alone. I used to decide on everything, but now I also listen to my husband’s opinions. I listen to my children and if they do something, and I am a bit harsh on them without getting the full information, I go back and apologize, which is something that I did not have in me. But through TFT, I have seen the person that I have become and I am still becoming because you change every day through how you interact.
TFT has helped me to understand that everyone has got something to say. It unlocks the potential that one has.
I work with ten ladies in my community. I used to do everything by myself, not knowing that I was taking the power from them. Once I did TFT, I realized that everyone has got the potential to do what I could. Since then, we divide tasks, people take ownership, and they are confident in what they do. As well as in the church, the women that I work with, meet every week and they used to wait on me for everything, but now things can go on without me because they are now confident to do things on their own.
In church, in our small group that grew from five to ten women, we stopped telling people what to do in the ways that were prescribed to us. Instead, I’ve engaged the participatory method on how people can talk, share, and reflect.
Another shift in church, was the women’s ability to take up space. Before, black people were not recognized enough to be in places of decision-making positions. New white members would be given positions above them. But sharing my ideas and growth, others have also become empowered, and learned to speak up and now we have three more black women that have also been assigned to decision making structures. We use the Holon to understand the self that has an impact on the community and also the women around us. We also use the time metrics, which really interests a lot of people – including my husband who has done it with me.
When I meet with bigger groups and share, there’s something that gets impacted in me. I’m open-minded to always learn in the spaces that we always meet.