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Chronic Diseases Support Group News
36 members of the Westlake Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle Support Group had a busy morning today (Tues 26 July ’11), when a visitor, Glen, came again to do breathing exercises with them in the hall. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves whilst learning new breathing techniques. Afterwards they had their sugar levels taken by Thobeka, one of our carers, and Beatrice, the Facilitator of the group, whilst Gladness and Tembeka served the tea. See the photos below!
Cadiz Steenberg Classic cheque handover on 24 May
The Cadiz Foundation recently handed over a cheque for R 150 000 to WUCT. The funds were raised at the Cadiz Steenberg Classic Golf tournament. The cheque was gratefully received by Dave Barnes, Manager, and Jamie McGregor, Chairman of the Trust.
This is not the first time that WUCT has been a grateful recipient – past contributions helped us considerably with the renovationa and extensions to Emmanuel Educare. WUCT would once again like to thank the sponsors for their generosity, investment and partnering with WUCT in the service of the Westlake Village Community.
For more information, please view the video cip (click here).
Masivuke Food Garden moves
Linah is very proud of her new garden. She has moved from behind the Community Hall to a new allotment in Lynx Way as her old site is to be developed into a playground. As you can see, she now has a tunnel (and is waiting for some seedlings to go in it), and recently a truck load of compost arrived. So, her organic vegetables are starting to grow and she has already produced some magnificent broccoli! The cauliflowers are still small, but no doubt will soon be edible… and the spinach is also coming on nicely…
TUTU Tester in Westlake
We were thrilled to welcome the TUTU Tester to Westlake on Saturday 16 July. The TUTU Tester comes under the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, in partnership with US Aid and the French organisation, Alliance Francaise Developement. It is a highly sophisticated research mobile clinic,undertaking free TB and HIV testing (including CD4 counts), Blood Pressure monitoring, testing for diabetes, and Body Mass Index. It was a very successful event – 55 people in total were tested, and because many had to be turned away, they have decided to come back next week! We are still awaiting the final stats. WUCT would like to thank the Tutu Tester staff, as well as our staff who assisted, for giving up their Saturday to come and work extremely hard for 5 hours in the hot sun! We really appreciate their effort.
STOP PRESS!!
The Tutu Tester came again on 21 July AND 22 August ’11! Altogether they have tested 117 people in Westlake in the past 2 months! Awesome response! Thank you Tutu Tester!
Here are some interesting facts – (A new study conducted by the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation with the help of the TUTU Tester found that the longer you wait between HIV tests, the higher your risk of testing HIV positive).
- 1 in 4 adults in Masiphumelele (a township in the Southern Peninsula of Cape Town) is HIV positive.
- 1 in 20 who tested HIV negative within the last year are now HIV positive.
- 1 in 10 who hadn’t tested for 2 years are now HIV positive.
- Most positive tests occur in women ages 26-40 and men ages 31-45.
- 1 in 5 individuals who would need ART (HIV treatment) are not taking medicine.
“WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP REDUCE THE SPREAD OF HIV IN YOUR COMMUNITY?”
1. USE CONDOMS
2. TEST AGAIN
3. TEST OFTEN
Here are some photos -
Mandela Day : Hip, Hip, Hooray!
Happy Birthday, Madiba!
The children at the Emmanuel Educare Pre-school at the Westlake United Church Trust were blessed abundantly on Monday 18 July 2011 which marks the 93rd birthday of Nelson Mandela. Not only is Reddam House School working to improve the Emmanuel playground by installing a super new jungle gym, irrigation system and roll-on lawn (see our facebook page for more news), but we were also visited by various friends bearing gifts.
Proud parent, Deon Lambert of Westlake provided chips and lollipops, and Brian, Esther & Chisomo from the Sagitta Group, Steenberg Office Park, provided sweets.
Jenny Williams and Andrea Knott delivered delicious and colouful cakes and cupcakes on behalf of the staff of the dealing room and treasury at Rand Merchant Bank, Great Westerford.
Michelle Sedgwick and her team from Run/Walk for Life Constantia brought us a very generous supply of sandwiches for the children.
To all of you, a big THANK YOU! Your generosity and thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated. All the children left school with their presents in a special party-pack in celebration of this special day.
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- Grade 0 learners ready to go home at the end of the day.
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- Jenny Williams and Andrea Knott of RMB with the Principal, Eleanor Lawrence
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- A huge donation of sandwiches from Run/Walk for life, Constantia
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- The Principal with Chisomo, Esther & Brian from the Sagitta Group
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- Teacher Shelene distributing some of the party packs to Pre-Grade R learners
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- Happy Birthday, Madiba!
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- Teacher Cher distributing party packs to Pre-Grade R learners
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- Pre-Grade R learners with their party packs
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- Assistant Teacher Shirley distributing gifts to Grade 0 learners
Common Ground Church gives clothes to Westlake women
Thursday 7 July 2011.
The women of Westlake women were delighted to receive clothes from Common Ground Church on Thursday 7 July. We would like to thank Common Ground for this gesture. We really appreciate your kindness and generosity towards our community.
Orphans & Vulnerable Children outing to Waterfront
On Sat 25 June 2011, we took 26 of our orphans and vulnerable children (ovc’s) to the Cape Town Waterfront.
The day began with Terri Martin arriving at the Community Centre with an armful of blankets – each child was given one. Thank you Terri for your extreme generosity! Then we were all transported in 2 of Reddam’s mini buses, kindly organised by Martin Oosthuizen of the Orphan Care Foundation.
We had an awesome time at the aquarium, where we were all amazed at the different types of fish, the sizes of the sharks, and the feeding of the penguins. We also watched a puppet show which provided great amusement, and then everyone was treated to KFC for lunch. Afterwards we enjoyed a boat trip around the harbour, saw the seals on wheels, and then went out of the harbour where the sea was very rough – luckily no-one fell overboard!! Back at the Waterfront we were entertained by street buskers blowing fire and a contortionist sitting on a tower of small tin cans with his legs wrapped around his neck. Needless to say, the children (and the 8 adults) were amazed! We ended the day with ice creams and the trip back home. It was a great experience and I’m sure everyone slept well that night.
Westlake women receive new shoes
There was much excitement when Hillsong Cape Town, in partnership with WUCT and Westlake Mothers in Action (who are part of the newly formed leadership of Westlake – the Westlake Community Foundation), handed out brand new shoes to the women of Westlake. Hillsong collected 1000 prs of shoes at their recent 2011 Colour Conference for Women, and so Pastor Lucinda Dooley very generously donated some of them to our women! Altogether over 100 pairs were handed out on Wed 22 June ’11, and as you can see from the photos everyone was delighted to receive a brand new pair (especially since all the Westlake children were recently given shoes at the new Primary School, as well as our own Emmanuel Educare children). Now the women had their turn! We thank God for Hillsong Cape Town and pray that they will be richly blessed as they have blessed so many women in our community in this way.
Visit from Woolworths (Steenberg) Staff
The Woolworths store at Steenberg Village supports us generously with a weekly donation of waste product, so we were very pleased to be able to welcome the Store Manager, Alastair Willemse, and some of his staff to the pre-school on Thursday 23 June 2011. Alastair and his team were shown around the premises, introduced to some of the children, and also shown the new kitchen of which we are extremely proud.
We also receive support from those Woolworths customers who nominate us as a beneficiary via the MySchool programme. To learn more about this, click here. (Emmanuel Educare is listed under Western Cape – Other).
Alastair and his team brought us soap and an assortment of tinned products: soups, tinned fruit and jam, which was gratefully received and will be very useful in reducing our monthly grocery expenses!
Maria & Jennifer from the Emmanuel kitchen staff, Roger from Woolworths, and some of the Grade 0 children with tins donated by Woolworths Steenberg Village.
Westlake children say Thank You to Reddam and Bobs For Good
On Friday 10 June ’11, about 400 children packed the hall for Kids Club, which is run by Martin Oosthuizen of the Orphan Care Foundation/Hillsong Church. They are learning all about Respect and on Friday they made cards for Reddam School and Bobs for Good to say a big Thank You for the shoes which were given to them at the new primary school. This has made such a difference to the lives of many children, who now can walk to their new school in their shiny new shoes!
Here are some photos.
