All my life, I have enjoyed the challenge of teaching, especially those at secondary school level, and then later training with adults. There is excitement in seeing how different minds grapple and cope with problems, how new concepts are dissected and learnt. Learning in a group is important to assist individuals to unravel, to interrogate, to understand new concepts collectively, to check if what is understood is accurate and applicable to an individual’s needs.
With this experience in mind, I set up a learning group consisting of my mentees from the few years I have worked as a d-lab mentor. In all, five mentees were approached to be part of a Community of Practice. I gathered this group together over breakfast in Mike’s Kitchen in Parktown on a Saturday morning. Using the principles of a CoP, where the group has a common concern, in this case survival, I set a broad agenda to be “how do we develop a ‘hustle’ to ensure we have money to survive and can we learn from and support each other”.
The group has met a few times. They have shared and are beginning to support each other. The hustles established so far are:
- A township pizza shop, working from a backyard
- An accredited course in IT, which just needs seed money to be tested
- A wedding photography service that uses a drone for ‘big aerial pictures.’
- An MC service for functions and gatherings
- A hair and nail service
- DJ service, with full equipment, for parties and functions
Each hustle is at a different level of maturity, and what is developing is communication between participants and support offered where needed. All the hustles can be replicated in the areas where the mentees live. There is an excitement to explore this further. These mentees have come through the same course and understand fully cyborg skills and IT design. This is the base from which they share, and they use these skills to explore ideas further.
The next meeting will focus on ways to create a matrix of support and marketing that can help all. For example, funding for the IT course is needed, and the group could collectively address this. Working across Alexandra and Soweto has been suggested. With their d-lab skills and a strong motivation to succeed, it will be interesting to see how the mentees’ journey develops. My role is to guide, not to facilitate, where needed. Generally, I just listen to the ideas developing and the suggestions for action.
Some of the principles of a CoP will guide the next meeting:
- Learning happens through mutual engagement — people connect, discuss, and problem-solve together.
- Members build trust and develop norms, values, and shared resources.
- A sense of belonging and mutual respect encourage open sharing and reflection.
I will be interested to see what happens next in this fledgling CoP.
By Pat Sullivan