Kitchen Therapy for Woodside

It was teatime at the Woodside Sanctuary on Saturday when we delivered a whole range of home made and some bought teatime goodies for the residents and staff.

     There were cakes, banana bread, muffins and scones galore, biscuits, tea, coffee and many other goodies, hopefully enough to go round.

Jenine Coetzer joined Linda and me when we delivered tea goodies to Woodside Sanctuary on Saturday morning.
Jane Mkhwanazi was there to receive the trolley load outside the gate

Lots to choose from for a slap-up tea

     Helene Bramwell provided fruit and a fruitcake, Judy Symons baked a cake, as did Ian Widdop and Lucille Blumberg. Jenine Coetzer gave countless packets of biscuits. Paul Channon provided date and orange muffins and there were some other goodies that we couldn't quite trace back to their donors, so forgive me if I've left your name out. There were also cash contributions into the account by Peta Thomas, Carol Stier, the Sligchers and Amina Frense with which we could purchase the basics like tea and coffee, sugar and milk.

Lucille Blumberg delivering her cake from a safe distance

     Some members, like Lucille, were only too happy to take time off from the daily grind to indulge in a bit of kitchen therapy to take their mind off things. In Lucille's case it's from the coronavirus, of course. She delivered her very yummy looking chocolate cake by car and again warned that the worst is yet to come in facing down the Covid-19 threat. Stay safe, folks!

     The seeds project also received some impetus when Helene had more seeds delivered to the Makers Valley Partnership in the Bez Valley area to the east of the Johannesburg CBD, who have instituted a feeding scheme in the area during these times of crisis.

     A part of their efforts is a vegetable garden run by the "urban farmer" Siyabonga Ndlangamandla, who is also a director of Makers Valley.

     Helene has suggested that we get Siyabonga as a speaker at a forthcoming meeting, so watch this space.

Peta's slide presentation

     Peta Thomas was the speaker at the meeting last week, speaking about the process of vetting candidates for the Rotary Peace Fellowships.

     This is a relatively new Rotary scholarship in which succesful candidates complete either a Masters degree or certificate course in peace and conflict resolution. Some of the top universities in the world are involved in the project, but there is a big push to get candidates from Africa to attend the Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.

     Nineteen candidates were interviewed and a final list put through to Rotary International. The final list of those selected is scheduled to be announced at the end of the year.

     Peta estimates the scholarships to be worth between $50 000 to $75 000 a year as full tuition, accommodation, air fares, etc are paid for.

     During  her talk she thanked PDG Frances Callard from the Rotary Club of Northcliff, who sat on the selection panel with her, for his efforts.

     Snippets: President Ian Widdop announced that Llewellyn Leonard has agreed to join the New Dawn board as International Services chair. 

     Paul Channon reported that the Alexandra Education Committee is carrying on with their work in feeding bursary children and their families and have enough to continue at least until the end of August and maybe even longer.

     President Ian also expressed satisfaction that the new arrangement with the WhatsApp groups (one for official club business and a separate New Dawn Chat group) is working well.

Oliver Quambusch inside one of the Hotel Hope charity shops in Melville, Resurrection

     Speaker: The speaker this week is Oliver Quambusch of Hotel Hope Ministries. Oliver is German by birth and was a successful businessman in Germany and the United Kingdom before he fulfilled a dream in South Africa of helping placing orphaned children into what his organisation calls "forever families".

     A Thought for the Week: They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea. - Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)