Farmer, Website designer, newshound, event planner – all in a day’s work!

This week started with two successful corporate visits. The first was with Supersport to discuss upcoming sporting projects, and the second with ABI, the South African bottler for Coca Cola. The second meeting was particularly productive: not only because they offered to come onboard with the project, but also because SA Project HOPE manager Betty, after a bit of gentle nudging, stepped up and delivered the presentation. One of Betty’s greatest strengths is that when she has decided to do something, she really goes for it.
Michelle has been doing a fabulous job of advancing the charity fundraiser. Both of us will leave our assignments with a real appreciation of how to do more with less. Queen bargain hunter Michelle has not only convinced the Silverstar casino to more or less host her event for free, they have also designed and printed the invitations, and provided most of the entertainment. Now we are on the hunt for items to sell off at auction: at least we have something already to cater for the morbid: one of the law firms from Krugersdorp offered us a free will and trust writing package. I can only wonder what the private investigators would have donated us if we’d asked!
Part of the preparations for the fundraiser is our Munsieville’s Got Talent contest, where the winner will perform live at the Silverstar event. Auditions are next Saturday and then the final is on the 18th Feb. Alongside we are running a film event to promote the Youth Voice Journalism Academy. On Friday we were lucky enough to go into Primedia, the radio station we visited in November, and see Solomon, one of the young journalists, completing his two week internship. He was a bit embarrassed to see us there – like seeing your mum and dad I guess!! The news team have all been amazed by his talents though and he looks set for a permanent position.
The diversity of our weeks here never ceases to amaze me: back to back with these visits was also bringing in the district council to approve a community farming project. The site visit went extremely well, despite nearly killing the delegate on the steep climb back up from the valley!! Added to this, I’m also setting up our new website appeal, to get longer-term donations for the crèches in Munsieville, through what’s called a Community Investment Partnership. Check out www.projecthopeuk.org for more details.
Some things, as ever, are not always rosy. It’s going to take considerable effort to rebuild and regroup the seven hubs with the right people to get them working on their first projects. Local councillor elections are coming up in April, which is already posing a huge distraction. It threatens the already-lengthy approval process for the Children’s Centre, as lots of departments are giving up and waiting to see who the new bosses will be.
These challenges only serve however to make the road more interesting. The journey continues at pace. See you next week!
Neil Davidson, GSK PULSE volunteer with Project HOPE UK