Woodside Sanctuary and The Link are both projects close to New Dawn's heart and at the meeting last week we heard from both of them; tales of achievement but also struggle in a world that has become very difficult for those tackling humanitarian issues.
Loné Lourens, responsible for Marketing and Fundraising, said that Rotary had been one of the organisations that helped establish Woodside in the 1950s.
In latter years a former New Dawn member, Hugh Rix, ran the Woodside Sanctuary for the profoundly mentally and physically disabled for many years before handing over the chairmanship to Paul Kasango, who has been involved from before the Covid years, a time that raised many challenges for organisations like theirs.
Loné refers to Woodside as profoundly interesting and uplifting.
"Your gut reaction is to walk away, but now I see our people as ordinary humans in a different shell".
Woodside currently has 85 residents, of whom 26 are orphaned or abandoned and cannot pay the fees. Most of the others and their families also struggle with keeping up with full payments, Despite these and other challenges, their aim is to provide a true home to the residents, who range in age from about 6 to 66.
She said their biggest wish now is to be able to install solar power to be able to withstand the ever increasing levels of load shedding. Their current generator can run only the laundry, an absolute essential in a place such a theirs (they wash about 1500 towelling nappies a day) and the reception area.
"It's a special place and the kids we care for are special," she said of Woodside.
After the Woodside talk it was time to hand over a Paul Harris to Tim Bashall, husband of Margie Bashall, the founder of The Link Literacy and Numeracy Project. And about time too, as the Paul Harris was originally arranged by Past President Ian Widdop in 2021 during the Covid years and this was the first time that Tim, who has now relocated to Cape Town, has been able to attend a club meeting since then.
He said that his then wife had started The Link almost at the same time as she had started her first oncology treatment for cancer that would eventually take her life.
New Dawn has a Global Grant in favour of The Link, but because of quite stringent conditions, spending came to a halt when Covid struck. There is a concerted effort to get this underway again.
Tim said he's happy to report that The Link has survived Covid and is back on track. They already have 375 volunteers supporting 729 children in 19 schools with a real prospect of growth in Soweto and on the West Rand.
They're especially excited by getting a foothold in the Zola Primary School in Soweto, which he described as a very high functioning school with a wonderful headmistress. From there the dream is to be able to expand the project into many more schools in Soweto.
Tomorrow: The speaker tomorrow is Ursula Botha, a voice coach, who will be speaking on unlocking the power of your voice.
A Thought for the Week: Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others. - Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745)
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