Last year's successful charity event at La
Paradiso
Anima, the centre for children with
spcial needs, need your support! Join them for
an exclusive dinner at the Arabella Hotel. They
are planning an exclusive Gala Dinner at the
ARABELLA HOTEL this year in aid of the ANIMA
CHILD DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTION CENTRE in
Sandbaai, Hermanus.
Anima was designed by ANDREW GREEFF ARCHITECTS &
built by KENNEDY & HATTINGH Building Contractors
two years ago.
The centre for children with special needs is
situated on the grounds of the Hermanus
Christian Academy.
It is our privilege to not only upgrade the
Centre but also help upgrade the School building
& playgrounds, which needs urgent attention. We
need to build another classroom this year, which
will enable us to accommodate a second group of
children, & the road leading to the school needs
to be tarred asap.
Your help is needed to realize these projects, &
therefore we invite you to our Charity Dinner on
Friday, 11 April at 19h00 for 19h30, where we
will have a collection of superb art on auction
( for example: Tay Dall, Hennie Niemand Jr,
Maeve Dewar, Neville Hickman, Lize van der
Walt, Angie Key, Liza Botha and many more
talented artists work).
Should you wish to join us on this special
evening, attached please find Gala Invitation &
bank details.
Should you be unable to attend, any donation
would be very welcome.
Please RSVP by Friday, 4 April 2008.
Please use your name as reference - transfer &
fax to 028-313-1977.
Looking forward to a wonderful evening together.
Lydia du Toit
Discover your resources!
"You can make a difference because of who you
are, once you discover the resources within
yourself, permanent change will start taking
place." Lydia du Toit radiates an inner peace,
love and beauty. She was one of six daughters,
raised in the lower income bracket as her father
earned his livelihood through prospect drilling.
"We lived like gypsies, for us it was about the
togetherness of family not the other
paraphernalia cars and houses."
Pioneering
spirit
Her mother, Ali, was a pioneer by being the
first South African woman to home school her
children. "We were living in the Kalahari at the
time and my mother was convinced that we had to
be raised and educated in a family atmosphere
and in the close proximity of love. She
contacted the Dept. of Education who maintained
she was not qualified to teach, she subsequently
wrote an exam and permission was then granted
for her to teach us. My one little sister had
leukaemia and my mother cured her with natural
medicine, she was an amazing woman and served on
the town council in Port Shepstone in later
years." Another fond memory is of her father
coming home from a business function with
"treats" in his pockets as this family lived on
pap and wild spinach only during some difficult
weeks, and the highlight would be the bread and
butter pudding on Sunday. I am beginning to
understand where Lydia's quiet determination and
high level of confidence has its origin.
Married
at 21
Lydia met her husband when she was 16 and he 19.
After completing her nursing diploma, Lydia and
Francois were married and the couple did
missionary work in the old Kangwane homeland and
in Mozambique for 10 years. Over a period of 5
years they trained more than 700 young people in
ministry teams. Some of their trainees are still
doing missionary work throughout the world
today. In November 1991 their thatch roof house
was struck by lightning and everything they owned
was lost in the fire. "We discovered that life
was not about what we have lost, but valuing
what we have within ourselves. Family and
friends from every corner in South Africa
arrived with loads of goods in order to replace
what they had lost. "Love is the essence of
life, without it, everything seems to lose its
value and becomes insignificant."
Essence
of God
"Love is the essence of God," explains Lydia.
"He is love. We live to love. We want to live
forever for the same reason we want to live
tomorrow, to love and be loved. When we realise
the goldmine in every person, we can look at
somebody in rags and see him as our equal. Many
religions maintain that loving yourself is
vanity, it is not. I want to salute God in
acknowledgement of His creation. When He made
me, He said that it was very good. His Sabbath
is not a break in a busy schedule, but the
celebration of His satisfaction. My reference is
not my own achievements, my reference is my
origin. Jesus said the whole law is fulfilled in
loving your neighbour as you love yourself"
Walking
Safaris in the Sabi Sand
Francois, Lydia and their young children
designed, built and managed a safari camp in the
Sabi Sands. Their vision was to give affordable
access to the local tourist. "We initially
charged R150 per night and later years, R350 pp
for accommodation, food and game drives. During
weekends and holidays our children practised
their hospitality skills around the Lapa serving
our guests. I remember a group of tourists on a
Game drive one day, taking photographs of me
walking to the laundry (1.5km from our camp)
with a bundle of washing balanced on my hand
holding my children's hands."
Conservation
Conservation is an issue that is very close to
Lydia's heart. She believes that education is
not a clinical, classroom matter as much as it
is an exposure and environment conducive to
forming lifelong mindsets. Locals need to
understand in order to treasure their heritage.
If we fail to educate our generation, more and
more of our prime conservation areas will be
sold out to private organisations, who do not
cater for the local market."
Africa
Inroads
Lydia and her niece, Helen, started with Africa
Inroads in the beginning of 2005. For several
years prior to that Francois and Lydia were
involved in Zwelihle on a small scale helping
with vegetable gardens here and there,
supporting individuals in need. Through the
creation of the Africa Inroads vision, a vehicle
was established to help accommodate the vast
potential of economic and tourism related
opportunities in and around Hermanus. Their
challenge is to see the informal settlement area
not as a growing problem but a major asset as
far as people potential is concerned. The
objectives of Africa Inroads are three fold:
Firstly the visitor to the township is given
access through the creation of a "tourist
friendly route," giving all visitors confidence
to visit the township and at the same time
create incentive to the township entrepreneur to
develop his product. Secondly, it is the
structuring of a market place, which is to
develop into a cultural hub for the township,
the town and the tourist. “Shopping Malls are
cold and clinical experiences repeated anywhere
in the world, whereas a local market creates an
unbelievable buzz”
Thirdly, Africa Inroads is developing a
community farm, which is the basis of the food
and health security programme and various skills
training projects.
Lydia is determined to create an awareness and
her quiet determination will see her achieve her
objectives. "There is a lot of synergy from
local people who share the same dream and
vision."
To
instil hope
"It is my passion to instil hope in people who
feel that there is no hope. I want them to
experience the joy of finding their inner
strength. We have to apply the theory in the
practice and make it work. Too much time is
spent in meetings, all the great ideas are on
paper and it‘s time to be implemented! Too many
people allow themselves to be neutralised. They
might have various seemingly valid reasons to
not get involved, but we desire to challenge the
community with its many social and church groups
to get out of their hiding places and become
positive role players in impacting their own
Immediate environment and future. Africa Inroads
commit themselves to initiate the kind of
projects that will build bridges in society
where ordinary people can discover new
friendships in neighbours that were previously
ignored for years. We can make a difference!
People don’t care how much you know until they
know how much you care.”
My point of departure regarding development is
one of using the resources at my disposal and
not one of obtaining resources from outside the
community in order to bring about change. The
bottom line is that we must take what we have
and start utilising it. We have to change our
mindsets. If I can make a difference in my own
life I can encourage those around me. When we
landed here almost 9 years ago, we had just lost
everything in business and were so negative and
felt so bitter and angry. One line of a song by
Michael and the Mechanics, “You’re a beggar on a
beach of gold!” stopped us in our tracks!
My husband Francois said: " You can be just a
pawn on a chessboard, but make your presence
felt!” It is not impossible for a pawn to become
a queen! Go
to Schools in Hermanus page Go to
stuff to do in Hermanus page
