True to MIWA East London’s belief that Women’s Month should be about empowering women, the committee invited women motorists to gather for an evening of education.
The events focused on basic maintenance tips to help cars run smoothly, with MIWA workshops throughout the region taking part. Highlights included an explanation about how to handle accidents, delivered by Duncan Beukmann, owner of a local towing company, while David Spenser Higgs and Cliffie Jacobs showed guests how to change a tyre, how to check oil and water, which smells in the car spell danger, what different warning lights mean, how services differ and why it’s important to use the correct oil.
The event was also used as a platform to create awareness around RMI and its associations and the importance of using a MIWA-accredited workshop. Going forward, plans are afoot to host more such evenings in an effort to change the perception of the industry as one that is a predominantly male environment that women don’t understand.
The response from the audience who attended was amazing. One attendee, Daphne, even posted:
“Last night I attended a truly empowering workshop on basic car maintenance and how to change a car tyre in an emergency. As part of Women’s month and hosted in a workshop at a garage by people passionate about their trade and customer service, I learnt so many tips and will never again do things I took as normal practices. I am more confident to look under the bonnet and know what I am looking at and for. More importantly, I learnt WHY I should do things differently. Thankfully 30% of mechanic workshops in our little dorpie are registered with national bodies that set high standards and have safeguards for customers in the event of something going wrong.”
– Daphne
Congrats Cliffie, Teresa, David and Duncan – you guys rock!