The Breath of Life initiative was setup in 2009, in response to the lack of support for women dealing with crisis pregnancies, and the high rate of abandonment of newborn babies. Mothers that were unable to bring up children had to choose between termination or abandonment. The situation demanded a response, and led by a passionate team the Restore Trust launched a two-pronged initiative to meet this need.
Babies having a supervised afternoon nap in the Breath of Life garden
Place of Safety
Babies are abandoned in dumpsters, dustbins and drains in East London, South Africa. A safe place to care for abandoned babies was a priority. The Place of Safety is at 2 Dawson Road, Selborne and currently has capacity for 6 babies. These children are either delivered by the SAPS or by members of the public. It is truly a sad state of affairs, a daily reminder of the horrific societal problems at play in our community. The house is staffed by a team of carers and house parents. The babies are given 24/7 care before being placed into forever-families.
The above was shared as part of my new weekly Difference Makers series featuring businesses, organizations or individuals making a difference in their communities.
“Use
filmmaking for a greater purpose, than to just entertain some drowsy minds.
Wake the whole world up with your movies. It has been sleeping for long. Its
eternal sleep has become its darkest nemesis. Now is the time to wake it up.”―
Abhijit Naskar
Yesterday I watched 3 Stolen Cameras – a documentary, made by Equipe Media in conjunction with RåFILM, about breaking an absolute censorship with unique footage from Western Sahara, a country that has been illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975. This documentary is painful to watch because of the scenes of violence but I urge everybody to watch till the end because if we don’t know what’s happening we can’t do anything to change it
GREEN TEAM – ANOTHER VISION TACTICAL INITIATIVE TO GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITY
Cleaning up in more ways than one!
Vision Tactical has been at the forefront of private security and protection services around Johannesburg since its launch in 2014. With the dawn of a new year, filled with renewed opportunities, Vision Tactical is proud to launch its latest operation – the Green Team!
The Green Team is a vision in execution. Vision Tactical’s way of further enhancing the suburbs it serves. Bringing in a team of passionate individuals to clean up and strive towards litter free surroundings. The operation creates job opportunities for the unemployed and provides these individuals with a sustainable source of income.
“It’s not just about cleaning our public spaces every Mandela Day… we need to make every day a Mandela Day and continuously strive to keep our suburbs clean’, said Yaseen Theba, Director of Vision Tactical. The aim of the Green Team is to build an unpolluted and safe environment, while driving sustainable social change, Theba added.
Look out for the members of the Green Team who are truly dedicated to the preservation of our environment – you will recognise them by their green overalls and friendly smiles! The team is equipped with sufficient tools and gear to effectively clean up the area.
The Green Team initiative has been put into motion as a result of an incredible collaboration with Freeway Toyota, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, ER24, AL’s Hardware among others and is associated with the Lower Houghton Residents Association and the Killarney Residents Association.
Eleanor Huggett, Councillor for Ward 73 has pledged her support for the Green Team, and will engage with the members & partners of the initiative so that the Green Team can benefit the community at large. Liziwe Ntshinga-Makoro, the director of Region E has also commended the initiative.
“The Nelson Mandela Foundation, is pleased that the Houghton Community is building awareness and making good efforts to keeping a clean and safe community that is caring’, said Yase Godlo, the Manager of Mandela Day and Outreach for The Nelson Mandela Foundation.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”, said Ridwaan Laher, the CEO of the Freeway Group” We are proud to contribute to the Green Team and challenge other corporates to also pledge their support, he added.
The Green Team – Keeping it clean…
Call the dedicated line on : 065 1 333 333
Web : www.greenteam.co.za
On twitter: @VTacGreenTeam
ENDS
The above was shared as part of my new weekly Difference Makers series featuring businesses or individuals making a difference in their communities.
Life is a gift not a chore – that’s my message to the world.
Today is my Second Annual Alive Day – the second anniversary of my contracture surgery – I remember the pain on the day of the surgery and for 10 weeks to follow I learned from that experience how much I wanted to live. Happy Alive Day to me!
Accepting
is inviting someone somewhere while inclusion is sitting next to them when you
notice that the seat next to them is empty – that’s what I’ve realized
Today I was somewhere and I couldn’t help thinking this is a perfect microcosm of my life – life is happening all around me and I’m here but not really included as I thought that a young gentleman came to sit with me holding his one and half-year-old daughter and we sat together playing with daughter until my mom returned I was so moved by his gesture of kindness he did the same thing last year when we were at an event and he noticed I was alone…out of 400 people there today I felt most included by that kind gentleman, his wife (who also came to sit with me with their daughter 20 minutes earlier when she noticed I was alone) and their child…I could cry just thinking about it 400 hundred people there and three people reminded me I was worthy of being sat next to. Thank you Rejidas and your little Dua for sitting next to me when most people just walked past me like I was invisible I will NEVER EVER FORGET your kindnesses – NEVER
Don’t dwell
on those who can’t or won’t help you focus on those who do – my new rule
Today,
twenty-four days into 2020, I have resolved to no longer dwell on those who can’t or won’t help me and
to instead focus on those who do – I have ideas and projects all I can do is
present them well if people help me implement them I will be delighted and so
grateful and if not I will move on and find more people to present to I won’t
spend hours dissecting why the people I thought could help me chose not to because
it’s really not productive.
Different is cool but different is also hard – that’s what I’ve realized
People make me so sad . Today my sister and i were waiting outside the mall for our brother to come pick us up after movies The woman sitting on the bench with us: My son is also wheelchair-bound – it’s so nice of your sister to take you out. My sister clearly understanding how the woman’s words made me feel didn’t accept the woman’s praise: it’s ok I could win the Nobel Prize and the person seen out with me would be nominated for sainthood for simply being out with me it makes me so sad that the public assumes everybody who’s with me is with me out of obligation and not choice. Regardless of what I achieve in life most people will always see me as an object of charity and pity #RealitiesOfDisability
With both the family I was born into and the family I choose #Happiness
“There are some things that you can fulfil with money, but
at the end of the day these are not the things that make you happy. It is the
small things that make life good.” – Sebastian Vettel
The last weekend of 2019 was the absolute best firstly my cousin got married and secondly in between all the wedding festivities I even managed to sneak in a breakfast with my Superhero Catherine Constantinides and almost all the Constantinides’s it was 4 days after Christmas but I felt like it was Christmas all over again – there’s something about that family they are love, loyalty and kindness and whenever I’m with them I feel like I fit effortlessly.
I doubt many things in life but i have NO DOUBT my Superhero truly loves meSpending time with my Superhero’s greatest achievement – such an extraordinary little human with great talent and an incredible imagination. I want to be like him when i grow up. Of all the people I met in 2019 he is my absolute favorite
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” – Seneca
Today is New Year’s Day and with that comes new hopes, new opportunities and new goals. Check out my life’s purpose and 2020 Goals below:
My Life’s Purposes
Fill the world with kindness and love
Make a difference – level the playing field for people who were born with the cards stacked against them
Change perceptions about differently-abled people
2020 Goals
Continue to be kind, honest, generous, grateful, loyal and filled with wonderment
Every day be the best SuperSidekick to Superhero Catherine Constantinides (she’s the best, most hardworking real-life Superhero I’ve ever met she totally deserves me forever and no matter what else I’m doing in life I will always be here for her)
Do more for Breath of Life perhaps raise R29 000 in honour of my 29th year of life (Breath of Life is a place of safety for vulnerable babies here in my city I JUST LOVE THEIR WORK)
Take one classroom of kids who’ve never been to the movies to the movies
Eat healthily
Practice Patience
Publish my children’s book Different is Cool
Make a steady income
Teach kids and adults worldwide that Different Is COOL
Continue to raise awareness about the Western Sahara conflict – the Western Sahara has been illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975 due to the fact that it’s rich in natural and though the UN promised a referendum in 1991 it has yet to come to pass meanwhile half of the Saharawi People have been living in the refugee camps in Algeria since 1975
Choose people who choose me
Read 12+ books
Plant 52 trees in honour of how old Gerda would have turned this year
Do 29+ good deeds – for my 29th year of life
Visit London, Paris and Rome
(Note: Goals are subject to change with time and that’s ok because I will change with time)
“Make
measurable progress in reasonable time.” – Jim Rohn
As we near the end of 2019 it is again time to review the goals I set at the beginning of the year
My 2019 Life Purposes and Goals in Review
My Life’s Purposes
Fill the world with kindness and love [did my best]
Make a difference – level the playing field for people who were born with the cards stacked against them [did my best]
Change perceptions about differently-abled people [did my best]
2019
Goals
Continue to be kind, honest, generous, grateful and filled with wonderment [did my best]
Raise $28 000 for Charity:Water in honour of my 28th year of life (when we give water we give ,health, education and lost time back – I want to give one thing that changes EVERYTHING) [raised $4 141]
Every day be the best SuperSidekick to Superhero Catherine Constantinides (she’s the best, most hardworking real-life Superhero I’ve ever met she totally deserves me forever and no matter what else I’m doing in life I will always be here for her) [did my best with love she’s extraordinary i’m honoured to support all her hopes and dreams]
Publish my Moments Journal(s) [FAIL – did not try]
Make an income – doing good is wonderful and I’m proud that I’m known for that but also I need a steady income I don’t feel good about myself being financially dependent on my family at almost 28 years old [i made a wage which is a start but in 2020 i’m hoping for a steady stream of money]
Teach kids and adults worldwide that Different Is COOL [did my best]
Continue to raise awareness about the Western Sahara conflict – the Western Sahara has been illegally occupied by Morocco for the past 42 years due to the fact that it’s rich in natural and though the UN promised a referendum in 1991 it has yet to come to pass meanwhile half of the Saharawi People have been living in the refugee camps in Algeria for 43 years [did my best]
Choose people who choose me [ I did choose people who chose me realizing the phone works both ways]
Read 12+ books [read 9 books – most were romance novels but still]
Plant one tree or more [we bought a tree and our gardener helped us plant it in November]
Do 28+ good deeds – for my 28th year of life [I did a few but didn’t keep count so i’ll never know if i achieved this goal]
Say no,thank you when people ask if they can pray for me (in the context of me one day being healed) [did my best – there was interesting incident with our carpenter]
Visit London, Paris and Rome [did not happen this year]
