“The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Ek sal graag wil glo dat hierdie woorde waar is, wat sal beteken dat Suid Afrikaners ruim harte het!

Dit is nou as jy wegkyk van #Bosasa en probeer vergeet van ‘n Minister wat aangestel is om na omgewingssake om te sien, maar wat blykbaar omgekoop is deur lamsvleis, geld en kiste drank!

Draai eerder jou kop weg en fokus op ‘n storie wat  hier, op ons voorstoep in Somerset Wes, gebeur het.

Na die verwoestende brande op Vrydag 11 Januarie is daar een storie van hoop wat selfs wêreldnuus gemaak het, die storie van Bambi!

Die kleine grysbokkie is gedurende die brand deur barmhartige paramedici van ER24 gered, en per ambulans na die Country Animal Clinic buite Somerset-Wes geneem, waar dr. Adri Rossouw vir Bambi onder haar vlerk geneem het.

Videos van hoe Bambi gulsig aan ‘n bottel drink het ons vir ‘n oomblik laat vergeet van die hartseer pad van verwoesting wat die brande agter gelaat het, huisie wat in puin gelê is, die tannie van Pringlebaai wat oorlede is aan ‘n hartaanval as gevolg van skok, en die honderde hektaarnatuurlike plantegroei wat verwoes is.

Soos Bambi aan sy bottel klou, klou ons aan haar dapperheid om te bly lewe!

Bambi se pootjies het erg verbrand, maar volgens dr. Adri vorder Bambi goed en begin selfs klim en klouter. Sy verbind daagliks die pootjies, om seker te maak daar is geen infeksie nie. En sodra Bambi se pootjies gesond is, wil dr. Adri graag hê dat Bambi terug gaan natuur toe, om maatjies van sy eie soort te maak.

Maak gereed vir nog ‘n trane dal, ek kan net dink hoe moeilik daardie afskeid gaan wees!

Dr. Adri het onlangs met Jackie Pienaar-Brink gesels, en wenke gedeel oor hoe gemaak as jy ‘n dier red tydens die brande. Volgens haar is die beste raad om die dier in ‘n handdoek of kombers toe te draai en te ry na die naaste veearts.

Die “Kleinmond Animal Welfare Society” of KAWS het verlede week Kapenaars genooi om aansoek te doen vir ‘n opleidingskursus, waar jy sal leer hoe om saam met die brandweermanne en vroue die brande te betree, om wilde diere van ‘n vlamme-dood te red.

Ek het aangetree vir hierdie posisie! Hier is die inligting indien jy sou wou:

In light of the recent fires, we, in conjunction with members of the community will be putting together a “wildfire rescue team”. There is a desperate need for this as our firefighters are so busy fighting the fires that they cannot stop to help the injured babies as they escape the fires. In order to be allowed to go into the burnt areas asap behind the firemen (this is the best way to save and help injured wildlife), we need to go on a 2 day course and get the correct clothing. If anybody is interested in joining this team to assist in fires around the Overberg / Overstrand please will you drop us an email at kaws@mweb.co.za with your details. 🙂 Looking forward to making a difference 🙂 PLEASE NOTE that an entire team is needed. Logistics, transport etc. The course if only for the people that want to physically go in and do the “evacuations”.

It is tough being a kid, there are so many new things to learn at school, so many mistakes to make and so many tears.

So it was heart-warming to read about the teacher at Paarl Boys’ Primary school who actively tries to cheer up her class of Grade R learners by giving them high fives and hugs before they enter the classroom every morning.

Zuleka Smit, who has been a teacher for 15 years, said she did not think a video shared by the school on its Facebook page would take off as it had. It received hundreds of thousands of shares within a week.

The children, aged between five and six, have eight options on how to greet their teacher, depicted on a poster at the entrance to the classroom. A high five, hug, dance, elbow hello, fist pump, handshake, smiling and pinkie-shake are the ways in which the learners can choose to greet.

She says she was on her holidays in December, staring out at the ocean, when she was wondering what she could do differently for her class. Smit says she came across a video on YouTube, where another teacher was doing the same thing, and it inspired her to give it a go.

With 24 boys in her class, something she describes as a “huge privilege”, she says she wanted to do this because she believes it’s essential to build relationships with the children.

“They then realise they don’t have to be scared of me, they don’t have to be shy, and I honestly believe that without that relationship between teacher and learner, teaching can’t take place.”

Smit says her colleagues who teach the other two Grade 3 classes have also decided to introduce the greetings, and it’s been very successful.

“The boys can’t wait in the morning, they come to the class and tell their mommies ‘I’m going to give her a hug today, I’m going to give her a high-five’…we celebrate their uniqueness, and want to build character.”

Smit says at Paarl Boys Primary they raise gentlemen.

“Every foundation phase teacher should try this it really, really works.”

Watch the video here:

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When community activist Roegshanda Pascoe was 10 years old, she remembers that was the time, that she first raised her voice on civic issues affecting her community. She was a foster child, who had moved to gang-ridden Manenberg only a few years earlier but she wanted to be heard from an early age.

She says in 2011, gang-warfare in the community of Manenberg, escalated. This led to a new phase in her life. Today she’s still an active crime fighter in the area, which has seen many innocent people killed in gang crossfire.

Now, she looks for non-violence solutions to tackle the gang problem, in her community.

Five years ago, gang violence again escalated in their neighbourhood. It was at that time, that Pascoe launched the Manenberg Safety Forum. An initiative to make crime fighters out of community members. She also started a Whatsapp group to fight crime.

She says today the area is well-connected. When a gang fight breaks out, community members would connect with one another, within seconds, with details about where the fight has broken out, and who is involved. This is their way of resisting gang warfare, in a non-violent way. It has also since spread to other parts of the Western Cape, where community members also use Whatsapp groups, to monitor activity in their neighbourhoods. Pascoe says the gangs fight the community by instilling fear and they by making their activities public, is their way of peacefully resisting and it’s the only weapon they have.

“Sometimes we have everything around us and assume we have nothing. I am a person that hate excuses, I work with solutions. And solutions are sometimes right in front of us and at times that we don’t see it that way.”

At the end of last year, she was invited to compile a book of stories of her experience on the Cape Flats. This special toolbook also reflected the time, when her daughter was hit by a strang bullet in gang crossfire. “I could have gone crazy like many other people, not knowing how to cope. And luckily for me, at that time I’ve already had a few tools with me, of who to contact, trauma centres, all those departments in addressing the issue,” says Pascoe.

She was also involved in the Taking Back Our Streets campaign, where people came together to take ownership of the neighbourhood, even amid rival gangs attacking one another.

“When I grew up we didn’t grow up with that. Though we didn’t have expensive play toys and all of that. But there was much love, amongst the neighbours for each others’ children and that is why I am doing what I’m doing. I know Manenberg consist of a very loving society. It just made me realise the good they have in them and so I will keep on doing what I do, until Manenberg, is where it should be.”

Thank you Roegshanda and all members of the Manenberg Safety Forum who are keeping communities on the Cape Flats, safe.