A house burnt down

The Lions hand over blankets

On Thursday 11 Augustus the house in which Anna Ntaka and her family live, burned down, destroying virtually everything inside – furniture, belongings, documents. The house is in Kagiso, in Ward 9, which is De Waal Venter’s Ward.

De Waal appealed to the Krugersdorp Lions for help and got overwhelming support. Derek Carter and Ivan du Plooy contributed blankets.

On Friday 12 August Ivan and De Waal visited the house to distribute the blankets. Ivan identified some other needs and promptly arranged for new doors and window panes to be installed.

The family were rather dazed by the shocking event, but they expressed their gratitude to the best of their ability.

The photo shows Anna (holding blankets) with Ivan and De Waal and some small fry.

Three days after the fire. John Malebo stands in the place where there used to be a shack in the back yard. The fire started in this shack. The debris has been cleared away completely.

John standing at the newly installed back door. The door hasn’t been varnished yet.

In Kagiso visitors rarely use the front door. You always go to the back door when visiting a house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Storytelling

The Storytellers Crossing Boundaries evening on Friday 15 April was a very enjoyable event. We had a good audience and the storytellers were really entertaining. The theme was “parents and children”.

After the storytelling we socialised and enjoyed snacks and drinks together. The venue at St Peter’s Anglican Church seems to suit people better than some venues we used in the past.

This is a small step in the direction of creating better understanding among people. We hope to continue with this project and to slowly help build a culture of tolerance and friendship.

Thank you very much for these photos, Peggy. Now we can all see what it was like.

Father Mpho tells his story, De Waal pays close attention

Dennis Pretorius tells how he had to walk to school as a child

Dennis Pretorius, storyteller Gabriel Morare, storyteller Francois Venter, Father Mpho and De Waal

Storyteller Francois Venter

The audience

Tony, Ivan and Pam

Waiting for the storytelling to begin

Designer rainwear

On Sunday 3 April we had another enjoyable outing to the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens.

Half way through the walk it started raining and we had to get back to the Nestlé Centre very quickly. De Waal continued his talk on the animals in and around the Garden. There is an interesting collection of skulls, stuffed specimens, rocks and fossils inside the Centre.

Did you know that elephants were related to dassies (hyrax)?

It was still raining when we wanted to get back to the cars. Fortunately had his special rainwear, designed in Paris, at hand.

 

Raincoat designed by Jean-Baptiste Rubbiche

Diabetes testing

Photos by Peggy. A busy day!

 

 

 

 

St Patrick’s Day!

Peggy sent in this photo and added:

Do you recognize this couple? They won the ‘ best dressed
couple’ at the Midrand Lions Club St. Patrick  evening held on Saturday
evening.

You can hazard a guess who it is…

 

Late Christmas parcels

Here are photos that were taken at the TB Ward today when Martha went to deliver the late Christmas parcels.

 

 

 

 

 

Puseletso and staff

 

 

 

 

Christmas party in the Garden

Our Christmas party in the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens was a bring-and-braai. Everyone brought a “mystery” gift, carefully wrapped to disguise its nature. We had a lot of fun finding out what those wrappers concealed!

It was a typical hot summer’s day, just right for the braai and something liquid to go with it. A thoroughly enjoyable day.

Well done Robyne!

Who is this bunch?

Contemplating the bench

 

Pam, Terry and Willem

 

Aldyn had something interesting to say

Lions in Australia

I recently returned from visiting family in Australia and attended a meeting at one of the Lions Clubs while I was there. (Lions Club of Engadine) If you want to take a peep, go to:http://e-clubhouse.org/sites/engadinensw. Click on 'photo gallery' on the left - Bev

Bev writes:

I have attached photos of the Engadine Lions (Australia) in action.  These
were taken at the annual fete that they organise.  There are 93 stall
holders in total

Inauguration October 2010

On Monday 20 October we had our combined business meeting and dinner. We were graced by the presence of Nick Maré, our District Governor, who inaugurated two new Lions.

The new venue at the Union Club is very pleasant and the dinner was a very pleasant affair – dignified and tasteful, yet relaxed and friendly.

District Governor Nick Maré conducting the inauguration

 

DG Nick Maré and LP Pam with sponsor Tammy Phelps, new Lions Eleanor Phelps and Dané Dubs.

 

Applause!

 

Ivan congratulates the new Lions

 

Tony Scheffel pins it on

 

Bev receiving her Attendance Award

The Lions Drive

The Lions Drive is a monthly event. Started in 1962, the Lions Drive developed into a well-organised treat for a group of Sterkfontein patients every month.

The patients are picked up at the hospital and taken to the Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden. There they are treated on tea and eats and taken for a walk through the garden. Sometimes they get goodie bags and other nice thing to take back with them to the hospital.

They were formerly given cigarettes, but that was stopped for obvious reasons. There are no complaints about that from the patients.

 

Tea and tasty snacks set out for the patients

 

A quiet path in the Garden

 

Bernice and Antoinette are ready to serve!

 

Aldyn showing the specially made bags for the patients

 

The contents of the bag

 

Clivias, also called bush lilies, for good reason

 

De Waal talking about the origins of the Crocodile River

 

Patients following De Waal on the walk

 

The Witpoortjie Waterfall

 

A Wild Apricot tree spreads the odour of carrion at certain times

 

Tony Scheffel got some patients to do pushups

 

The Lion pack