I am imagining a conversation between two six year old boys:
“It’s great that we got here early. I like running and catching the sarmie from the van window. They know me now and it’s a bit like playing rugby, when the ball is passed down the line! I would like to become a rugby player like Siya Kolisi.”
He pretended to pass a rugby ball. And then said: “I hope that I end up with an egg mayo samie.”
“Nah, the peanut butter and jelly is the one I want. Seymo had it yesterday and I swopped bites with him. Yoow, man, it tasted really cool!!!”
“Bet I can run faster than you!”
“Can you run and catch the sarmies at the same time? C’mon!”
Their laughing ‘Siya Kolisi’ echoed after them, as they ran for their sandwiches.
As they ran for life…..

This lockdown has affected everyone, especially children. Because of it, work is non-existent for many. My heart goes out to the poorer communities who are battling to feed their families. This is where George Child Welfare has stepped in so magnificently. In George, during the week, people make sandwiches for the underprivileged children. I have been staying with my friends, John & ‘B’ during lockdown, and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we make a loaf of egg mayonnaise sandwiches. B’s neighbour, Di, collects sandwiches from twelve people that are making them and drops them off at Child Welfare. They are then distributed to the eagerly awaiting children.

George Child Welfare believes that during this lockdown, it is important to let the children realise that they are still there for them. This lockdown is an unsettling feature in everyone’s lives. They don’t want the children to feel abandoned or deserted. They visit each district in need, smiling in greeting. The van is recognised and the smiles collide!

I already knew about George Child Welfare. Two years ago, a friend and I dropped off a bag of second hand children’s clothing at their HQ on Albert Street. It’s only since lockdown, however, that I have been made so aware of what a necessary and vital organisation it is.

Child Welfare aims to protect and enhance the lives of children.
In George, the organisation is directed by Sue Du Toit. She is a practical, down to earth person with the warmest heart and a dry sense of humour. She told me about their mobile library which fascinated me. This is filled with educational material for children between the ages of three and five. Each home based crèche which is made up of between fifteen to sixty kids, has the library for a month. Imagine the joy and delight as the children are introduced to the seven dwarves in Snow White and the antics of The Three Bears. I can just picture the excitement of having the mobile library arrive. Hearing wonderful stories read, learning how to count, recognising various colours must be an exhilarating experience.

George Child Welfare are unbelievably fortunate to have George philanthropist, Sabine Plattner’s patronage. Through her, a lifeline has been given to many vulnerable children and their families.  Indeed it is through her generosity that houses have been bought which are invaluable to George Child Welfare. The first house is now a permanent home to six children and has a ‘Mum’. This house has been established for a year now. The other house is having final renovations done, then this too will open to six fortunate children.

There is also a ‘Safe’ House.
This is for children who are orphaned, have been abused and consequently removed from their homes or are just not being cared for at all. At least twelve children can stay here for up to three months. This is a place where they can literally catch their breath and while doing so, remember they are children!
If feasible, Child Welfare works to rehabilitate the family as a unit but failing this they find foster homes.

Under the umbrella of George Child Welfare, at least 725 children are currently in foster care. One foster mum, Jody, says: “A child born to another woman calls me ‘Mommy’. The magnitude of that tragedy and depth of that privilege are not lost on me.”
The open heartedness of being a foster parent is bountiful. The thing that is of prime importance is the child. I believe that a foster parent must deal out buckets of love. They mustn’t hold back, thinking: ‘This child is not with me forever. I must guard against loving too much.’
They must be lavish with their love. The child needs it!

Pre-lockdown, on some Saturday’s, George Child Welfare ran a training skills program. Children were shown how to protect themselves against abuse and bullying. They were told where to go for help. They found children in despair because their teachers had upbraided them for having dirty clothes. Their mothers hadn’t washed them. So the children were shown how to wash their clothes themselves. My heart gets very wide at the idea of six and seven year olds washing their own school uniforms. 

George Child Welfare has a bus called Buddy. This, under normal conditions, travels daily into the under-privileged areas. It’s draw card is the hot meals it serves, but it also provides a place where children can ask for help with homework or learn life-skills. If children have problems then they can talk about it to someone with a friendly neutral ear. Child Welfare assist, on an average, between sixty to ninety kids a day. 

‘Out of bad things, good can come!’ I am so pleased that through sandwich making during this virus time, I have had the opportunity to meet face to face, or should I say, mask to mask with Sue du Toit and her George Child Welfare team. Our Western Province Premier, Alan Winde recently said: “Use this Covid19 lockdown to share love!”
Forget about lockdown! George Child Welfare has been sharing love with children since 1925. Almost 100 years!

If with an egg sandwich I can bring a smile to one child’s face, my heart will answer with a radiant beam! 

***

Anyone interested in donating to George Child Welfare can do so via EFT using the following information:
Bank: First National Bank, Account Name: George Child and Family Welfare
Branch Code: 210114, Account Type: Cheque, Account Number: 52291616310, Reference: I care

The post Siya Kolisi Sarmies! appeared first on 'ear 'ear! by Gaynor Young.

“Golf is said to be a very challenging game. The player has to hit a very small ball, into a very small hole with equipment ill designed for the purpose.”

I swung the club and connected.
The golf ball sailed high into the air, reached it’s peak, and began to drop. I looked after it with satisfaction. I placed another ball on the tee, did the golfer’s little “bum” shuffle, drew back my club and launched another on it’s way.
Before my accident, I loved going to the driving range. When I was out of work, highly frustrated and often depressed, that arching golf ball would carry a portion of my burdens with it.
After my accident, I accompanied friends while they played golf. George Golf Course has got to be one of South Africa’s most glorious courses. Tall trees, small hillocks, a green undulating field encompassed by those incredibly statuesque mountains. They played their final hole and made their way towards the clubhouse. I waited until they had moved out of sight and I turned to my close friend.
“Do you think I could borrow your golf club? I want to see if I’m still able to hit a golf ball.”
I clutched the golf club in my hands. It felt strange, large and unwieldy. I looked at the golf ball all the way down there. It all felt totally different to what I remembered. There seemed to be no connection between the ball, club and myself. I remembered my golf swing being smooth and fluid. I swung at the golf ball. And missed. I took a deep breath and tried again. Once again, I failed to connect with the ball. There was nothing smooth and fluid about my movement now. This disjointed, clumsy feeling made me realise that Gaynor and her days with a golf club were over.
My days of golf are far from finished though. I have friends that are passionate about golf, and so, like it or not, it still features prominently in my life. Last Saturday, it was the South Cape Women’s Golf Championship. The top amateur players in the country were there. Jan and I meandered our way over the course, picked a hole and sat down to watch. It was a bit like sitting at a waterhole in a game reserve. One marvelled at the variety, the skill, the plumage, and the sheer mastery of the various individuals that crossed our path.
At lunch we bumped into Val Holland, the South African women’s golf coach. On being introduced, she burst out with: “Gaynor, I read your book, how utterly absorbing it was. It was one of the best autobiographies I’ve read.”
How could I not fail to like her instantly!
She has been the South African ladies coach since 2005. On Wednesday we discovered that she was giving a class for Downs Syndrome children. I was intrigued so we joined her at Kingswood Golf Estate where she now teaches.
We arrived and the class had already begun. No mind was paid to to these two staring strangers. The children were utterly involved in what they were doing. Val had them hitting tennis balls towards their own little targets. The concentration was precise and intense. One girl seemed to speak gently to herself while she set herself up for her shot. Hitting the ball, she would watch it weave it’s way across the grass. She would then mutter as she took aim with her next tennis ball. And the next. Finishing her four balls, she would look up and smile at Val. Then collecting the balls, the whole process would begin again.
Val, also had them throwing balls at this big, round board that she held. If the balls hit the board they would stick there. This was to improve their sense of direction. What hoots and cheers of delight followed the tennis balls clinging onto the board!
What was it about that class that so took my breathe away?
I think perhaps it was the joy shining out from their faces when they succeeded in conquering a very simple goal. The children derived untold pleasure from the incredibly simple fact that they were “learning to play golf!” Val gave them the opportunity to feel that they were achieving something.
I look at Val with such admiration. She has reached the pinnacle of success being the South African Women’s golf coach. This woman also chooses to teach those with Downs Syndrome. And she puts equal effort into both pursuits. I was delighted to discover that her greatest goal right now would be to get a player from the Ups with Downs school to become a golfer who can possibly participate in disabled championships.
I think of my pre-plunge golfing days.
I think of the unbelievable artistry we encountered at the South Cape Golf Championship.
I think of the innocent joy I was shown by the Down’s golfers.
Isn’t golf a wonderful thing?

The post The Ups & Downs of Golf! appeared first on 'ear 'ear! by Gaynor Young.

Joy of all joys, every Christmas we went to the Christmas pantomime! John Moss put on a yearly panto and the delight, laughter, shouts of enthusiastic children that the Playhouse witnessed, makes my heart sing in memory. I remember quite clearly watching Liz Edmiston playing Peter Pan. I decided then and there that when I left school, I wanted to act. The rest of the family didn’t have such a life-altering reaction but we always used to leave the theatre talking nineteen to the dozen, recounting and laughing over bits of of the show we’d just witnessed.
Going to the theatre in childhood transported us into another world where the improbable was made probable. It was a world where there was hope and dreams. It was a place where good triumphed over evil. Going to those pantomimes gave us all a lasting love and appreciation of theatre and the arts which we carried into adulthood.
Recently I met up with a friend of mine, Susan Danford. It is always wonderful seeing Sue. She has an eagerness for life that is infectious. She had just come from running a workshop for school children from deprived environments. The theme of the workshop was War Horse which was then taking South Africa by storm.
In Susan’s workshop, she and the children were exploring how horses move. They all cantered and galloped madly around the room. Utterly exhausting! I still remember, as a child, doing the galloping hand clap onto my chest. I have just tried it and yes, I can still do it. It is strange how things you learn as a child remain with you.
Several days later, Susan and other workshop groups, all boarded a bus and took their children to The Artscape Theatre where they all sat utterly enthralled and transfixed by War Horse. It was a heady moment for them. Going in a bus! Going to the theatre! And then seeing a play of the calibre of War Horse!
ASSITEJ SA was responsible for ensuring that over 5000 children got to see the international production of War Horse through the generous sponsorship of Rand Merchant Bank. Lesley Beake, director of the Children’s Book Network based in Red Hill, recounts: “None of our Red Hill children had ever been near a theatre. Many of them will never go again. When the boys came to the workshop, they slouched in full of attitude. When they left the theatre their eyes were shining… For us, as a reading organisation, the most heart-warming of all was the way they seized their books and immediately started reading them.”
Hopefully that experience will remain with them for a long time.
Susan suggested that I should contact Yvette Hardie, the World President of Assitej. She thought maybe in the future I might do some school workshops about my deafness and cochlear implants under the umbrella of Assitej. Or perhaps something connected to ‘my’ opera I mused.
Yvette Hardie carries a serenely organised air about her. She is the first African President of ASSITEJ International and has successfully championed the bid to bring the ASSITEJ World Congress and Performing Arts Festival to Africa for the first time in 50 years. The 19th ASSITEJ World Congress and Festival will be held in Cape Town in May 2017! The theme will be inclusivity!
On meeting, I asked her to explain exactly what Assitej is.
“Well, the acronym ASSITEJ stands for: Association International du Theatre pour l’ Enfance et la Jeunesse.” She laughed. “Yes, French, the organisation was actually founded in France. It’s aim is to promote high quality arts and theatre for children.”
On March 20th,  The World Day of Theatre for Children and Young People is celebrated annually by ASSITEJ members in nearly 100 countries. This year it is using this day to highlight it’s initiative “Take a child to the theatre today”. It’s hope is that by the end of March more than 20,000 children will have had the opportunity to experience theatre for the first time.
I consider theatre vital to children. When I was performing in children’s theatre at university, I played an evil witch. This witch played havoc with a small pig. The pig escapes and the witch is duly vanquished. After the show, I was standing chatting to my friends when a young five year old boy accosted me. “You are a nasty person! I have a pig. If you had treated my Henry like you did just now, I would have got Dad’s sjambok and…and…you wouldn’t have been happy!”
Laugh! While not advocating the use of his father’s whip, I rejoiced because that little child had comprehended the injustice that was shown in our production.
This campaign of “Take a Child to the Theatre Today” is so important because theatre presents its young audiences with their hopes, dreams, and fears. It develops and deepens experience, intelligence, emotion, and imagination. It inspires ethical choices; it increases awareness of relationships; it encourages self-esteem, confidence, and the free expression of opinions. All of this through merely watching and experiencing theatre.
Could you support Assitej’s campaign? Which child might you take to experience theatre for the first time? Believe you me, they would love it. And what’s more so would you!

The post “All the World’s a Stage……..” appeared first on 'ear 'ear! by Gaynor Young.