Headway Natal

Headway Newsletter: August 2003

Editorial
My turn to do the newsletter this month and, as usual, there is very little space for an editorial and none for the Information Corner either! The enclosed BIG Newsletter is brimming with information so it would be superfluous anyway to include more in The Way Ahead. Excuses…. excuses! Veronica

Welcome to…… our new members this month: David Mottram and Ian Gourlay. It is our fervent wish that we can be of help to you and your families.

Farewell to…. Alex Magubane who has been helping to keep the Headway garden in shape for the past few years. Alex has been studying for many months to become a security guard trainer so we always knew the day would come when he would leave us. We thank Alex for his hard work and will miss his rich baritone voice at our Christmas Crackers this year. We also thank Shirley Coetzee for the last time, for regularly sending money to pay for Alex to work for us.

Monthly General Meeting in September
Bio Kinetics after Brain Injury and Strokes is the topic for our Monthly Meeting to be held on Wednesday 10 September at 6.45 for 7.00 p.m. Our Guest Speaker will be Stuart Liggins and, since the first official day of Spring will have already passed and the daylight hours getting longer, we hope to see a lot of our members and friends attending the meeting. Don't forget, the purpose of the meeting is for EVERYONE to have a chance to socialise with like-minded people and to enjoy some information and advice specifically aimed at Headway members.

Annual General Meeting: Report Back
The Headway AGM held on Wednesday 6 August went off smoothly, and was a bit of an anti-climax after all the preparation for the event!

The Chairman's Report, read out at the AGM, was sent out with last month's newsletter mainly because it contained a good overview of the year's events, but also because the compiling and researching of its contents took up much of the time that would have been devoted to writing the July newsletter. We are sure you would agree that Headway has had a very active and rewarding year and hope Rose's two-page newsletter to accompany the Chairman's Report was satisfying enough for all our readers. The Headway Committee was elected and there were no changes from last year. The Committee dedicated to steering Headway at executive level is as follows:

Rob Hartley (Chairman), Elize Tanner (Treasurer), Veronica Raaff (Secretary), Martin White (Maintenance), Helen Lynn and Rob Fisher. Our manager, Lionel McArthur, attends every committee meeting by invitation so that effective liaison exists between committee and Headway administration. The Committee plays a vital role in the success of Headway and the contribution made by each member to its current stability is acknowledged with sincere gratitude.

In Chairman Rob Hartley's report a number of thank you's are expressed and, although a vote of thanks to Rob was given at the end of the formal proceedings at the AGM, we would like to record the gratitude of everyone at Headway who has benefited from Rob's dedication, kindness and enthusiasm. Much of his day is spent helping, as a volunteer, a number of charities and good causes and we know we are fortunate to have him as our Chairman. Thank you, Rob, from us all.

Before the social aspect of our AGM took place, our two invited speakers took the floor. Both Liz Price and Cynthia Miller from The Community Chest said that although they see many needy charities in their jobs as fundraising officers for Ubuntu, Headway has a special place in their hearts. The aim of The Chest is "…to raise and distribute funds to organisations engaged in meeting the welfare needs of our community." Currently, 51 organisations (including Headway-Natal) which meet the criteria of providing efficient, relevant services to members of the community are being guided and supported by The Chest. As administration costs are covered by bequests, every cent donated is distributed to a worthwhile charity.

BIG Newsletter
Enclosed with The Way Ahead this month is the August edition of BIG Talk, the newsletter produced by the Brain Injury Group based in Pretoria. We congratulate BIG on their successful application for a grant from National Lotteries but would like to know how much they got!! Headway exercises a "transparency" policy about financial affairs and we feel rather miffed that BIG is not doing the same! As there is a self-penned "Survival Story" in BIG Talk (Page 5), there will be no "Personality of the Month" column in this newsletter. The topic "Driving After Brain Injury" (Page 3) which has been covered in an earlier edition of The Way Ahead is worth a read, and "Fatigue" (Page 4) has much relevance for people who have recovered from a brain injury or stroke but are still baffled by the amount of sleep they need.

Headway Happenings

Therapy News
We acknowledge with sincere gratitude the important role played by the 4th year Speech Students from UDW who have been spending every Tuesday at Headway, each one working one-on-one with their "own" attendee. Since Daphne left we have been unable to offer speech therapy to those who need it as part of their rehabilitation and it has been a godsend to have the students working on our behalf.

Activity Programme

OT Debbie reports:
We've gone bananas in the OT Department (literally and figuratively!). During one cooking session we baked and baked and BAKED until all the bananas donated by Waterfall Spar, were gone - now we know how to make MEAN banana bread (there were even a couple of loaves left over to donate to the children at Zimele Molweni to make their morning "tea break" more tasty)!

Woodwork production has stepped up in our Woodwork Class as the group members create masterpieces for the Craft Market in October. Special thanks goes to OTA Lesley Vezi for all his hard work in preparing the wood to make this meaningful woodwork experience possible. Anyone who would like to join us on Mondays for Woodwork is most welcome and there may be more exciting plans for Mondays - so keep posted!

Mavis's Music Group is still going strong and always adds a special magic to the atmosphere. Two faithful volunteers who need a special thank you are Jennifer and Sue (see Headway Angels below) who help with everything from tea to running special groups on Tuesdays.

The Shopping Bags keep coming so don't stop buying! Rose Paterson also runs a Craft Group on Wednesdays for those who are interested.

Thursdays have been Fun! Fun! Fun! The Stroke Group is growing steadily and the Cooking Group has learnt to make many delicious meals. Mrs Letchmia taught us how to make a traditional breyani and we say thank you from all the happy tums!

Volunteer Peter Deighton was our speaker one Friday and he shared many stories about his life and his philosophy that things always happen for a reason. He says that the reason he is so loud is because his mother was deaf in one ear and he always had to speak loudly! Our outings programme every second Friday has been very varied with a trip to the beach at Ansteys where we had a talk by the Professional Life Guards and also to Sea World. The highlight of this outing, other than the wonderful dolphins, was seeing Gambit splash Lesley - attendee Kevin Hollinshead was in hysterics! Thank you to everyone who helps on the outings - it would not be possible with out you. Debbie

Environmental Focus

Jean Senogles has become our guru on local environmental matters and this month, on Friday 15th, she brought along a colleague of hers, Clive Read, to give another presentation in our series of "Get to Know Your Environment" talks.

Clive likes to take his video camera when he goes walking in the Palmiet Nature Reserve in Westville and he had two interesting videos to show to the attendees. The first featured a Vine Snake (also known as the Twig Snake) devouring a chameleon - a noteworthy event as both creatures are becoming a rare sight and the Vine Snake, in particular, is difficult to see as it has excellent camouflage and is very shy. It took the snake 40 minutes to swallow the chameleon as, despite the snake's efforts to dislodge it, the chameleon kept hanging on to the branch of the tree for grim death!

We were all interested to hear that the chameleon is preyed on by Vervet Monkeys and Trumpeter Hornbills, which are both found in the reserve. Environmentalists are so concerned at the decline in the numbers of chameleons that a Wildlife Chameleon Park is being established near the Albert Luthuli Hospital.

Clive's second video, which lasted exactly 60 seconds, showed the rise of water in the Palmiet River during a flash flood in January this year caused by a moderate rainfall of only 10mm. He had estimated that it takes 1½ hours after rainfall in the Palmiet catchment for the water to rise from a trickle to a full-on flood. We watched in amazement as the river became a raging torrent with large tree-trunks and other debris tumbling along in the wall of water - and all in the space of one minute! Clive explained that the run-off from roads, parking lots, shopping centres etc all flows into the Palmiet and this is the result. We are very grateful to both Jean and Clive for providing such informative talks and creating a new interest at Headway.

Bee-Witched, Bee-Bothered & Bee-Wildered!!!
Those feelings have certainly all been experienced at various times during the 18 months that Headway has been involved in the Bee-Keeping Project! With the future of the project is question, maybe the final "Bee-" is the one we are all feeling at the moment!

Brian Dangerfield e-mailed this report to us:
Following upon the good honey flow experienced in the early part of the season during March/April 2003, the honey yield petered out altogether. Beekeepers in the district are postulating all sorts of theories for this phenomenon including abnormal weather conditions, non-seasonal flowering patterns affecting the availability of nectar etc. As a result the project team had a number of subsequent maintenance visits to the apiaries with no robbing of honey. The initial honey production has largely been packed off and sold.

The field team had an enjoyable working trip to Richmond on Wednesday 27 August 2003 after abandoning the planned visit for the previous day because of high winds. The weather conditions were near perfect with no wind at all. The swarms were found to be in good condition with a little fresh honey coming in to support the colonies. This apiary is well set for the arrival of spring and we can only be optimistic about the next season.

A highlight of the project to date was the receipt of payment by participants in the project for their hard work which was well appreciated Decisions will have to be made with regard to the future operation of the project as it appears that funding may not be forthcoming in the year ahead. Headway have possibly accumulated sufficient hives and equipment to form a sustainable unit to meet OT objectives in a co-operative venture with Wayne and Mark Myburgh without further expansion at this stage. This will also give team members more opportunity to learn the business and take over all phases of the operation.

Neuropsychology Conference in Gauteng
Representing Headway-Natal in October will be well respected psychologist Rosanne Hardy who has been invited to present a paper at the Combined Neurological Rehabilitation and Neuropsychology Conference organised by Afrox. Rosanne's abstract is entitled "Involving University Students and Community Members in the Rehabilitation of Brain Injury Patients" - a subject dear to Rosanne's heart as she has vast experience in "employing" young people studying psychology, occupational therapy and speech therapy to assist her with her work in the field of Acquired Brain Injury. In researching information for the conference Rosanne has been collecting essays from survivors of brain injury and she has been amazed at the quality, content and the insightful nature of these essays. She will be sharing a table with Headway Gauteng (the charges for "having a table" at the conference are high!) and these essays will be displayed to showcase the work done by Headway-Natal.

Headway Angels
We regularly acknowledge our volunteers and express our thanks to them for the vital role they play in assisting the staff with many aspects of Headway life. However, there are two kind ladies who have been helping out and have not been recognised in the newsletter, and this month we thank Susan Veal who has been helping with Music on Tuesdays for many weeks, and Asta van der Merwe who has been lending a hand on Wednesdays in the Sewing Group. The very reason that they have been overlooked is that they have both quietly slotted into their assistive roles without expecting any guidance or input from the staff (the very BEST kind of Volunteers!). Thank you to you both from us all.

Fund Raising

Street Collection
In July (during the week that Headway was closed for the mid-year break) a few stalwarts stood holding collection tins in two of the shopping centres in Kloof. The result was R799.51 and our thanks go to Lionel, Rose, Veronica, Simon and Kerri Gillitt and especially to four Kloof Rotary Anns who helped us at Kloof Village Market on Friday 25 July. The amount collected was not particularly gratifying but we are always happy that Headway is at least getting some exposure and that there were very few shoppers this year who had not heard of us.

Raffle
One of those bits of Headway Magic that we talk about from time to time happened recently. The Picnic Hamper and Quilt Raffle draw took place in June and there was a brief lull before yet another raffle prize was offered to us. Barbara Truscott (mentioned some months back when she volunteered to help with the Headway Shop and also when she assisted Veronica with the Fund Raising lunches in 2002) has been producing some very fine artwork using the medium of pastels and she offered her picture of anemones for us to raffle. She paid for the framing out of her own pocket and has even given up a lot of time to selling the tickets. Barbara got more than she bargained for as a number of people who have bought raffle tickets have commissioned her to do special artwork for them! Her generous gesture has backfired somewhat she says!

(Stop Press: Just before completing the writing of this newsletter, another raffle prize was donated to us - again a painting! Glynis Flack who has also been a volunteer in the past, has painted a "Waterscape" in acrylics, and the raffle sheets are ready for you to sell! Yes, we would appreciate some help with ticket sales, so if you are able to assist, please contact Darina at the Headway office).

The Headway Shop showed a profit of R1 216 this month - although it is officially open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we do open on a "demand" basis. There are many people sporting smart outfits purchased at "The Headway Boutique" so if you want to be one of the chic set - you know where to go!

Sales of jumble, books, crafts and cards as well as payments for photocopies and phone calls brought in a total of R 1276.00 and Collection Tins in shops yielded R65.97. Raffle ticket sales reached R661.00.

Headway Pietermaritzburg
We haven't heard from our friends "up the hill" for some time and it was good to get some feedback recently on their activities. The group continues to thrive and provide support to brain injury and stroke survivors in the area as well as to their families and carers.

In addition to a speaker each month they have recently held a Video Afternoon at a member's home and enjoyed a Chinese Braai on another occasion. At the moment the members are collecting prizes for a raffle in an effort to improve their financial situation.

Donations
Our biggest news on the donations front is that, thanks to a number of positive replies received by Westville Rotary Club in response to appeals sent out for funding for a new vehicle for Headway, we are A-for-Away!! Yes - we have been able to pay for a demo-model Toyota Condor using the Venture Van as a trade-in, thanks to donations from The Beauman Trust, Game Stores, Nedbank Heroes and Westville Rotary Club. The Venture has been sending strong messages lately that it is past its reliable best and many a morning it has refused to start and we have had to call out a mechanic. So the timing of these generous donations could not have been better and by the time you read this, we should have the insurance sorted, the Tracker installed and be on our way to sorting out some kind of wheelchair carrier for the Condor (we can't hand over the Venture for the trade-in until this essential facility is in place). Our gratitude for this wonderful donation knows no bounds!

More Thank yous!
There are so many kind people who make our lives easier at Headway and this month we thank the following:

Hilary and Neill Augustus of Sawyers Carpets (and also Durban North Rotary Club) sent their workers to fit a carpet off cut to cover the cold bare concrete floor in the "Physiostore" which had been tidied up and turned into Ryan's office. They also sent a large carpet off cut with heavy pile to Headway for us to take up to Zimele for the bare concrete floor in the centre.

Also reaching out to Zimele through Headway was the Rotary Club of Westville - some of the members collected Tiger Brands foods at the Pavilion for the Unite Against Hunger Project focussed on whilst flamboyant British chef Ainsley Harriott was in the country. The collected items were taken up to Zimele to help supplement the feeding scheme.

Headway Outreach
It has been a while since we reported on Zimele Molweni, our Outreach Programme in The Valley of 1000 Hills. We are pleased to inform our readers that things are slowly improving at the centre for mentally and physically challenged children. The most exciting news is that an electrician was commissioned to install the fittings, lights, plugs etc in preparation for the Ethekwini Electricity Department to make the connection - any day now we think! This has all been made possible by the grant received from The National Lotteries Distribution Board (reported on in the May edition of The Way Ahead) and our minds boggle when we think of the wealth of possibilities opening up once the electricity is connected. Already, in response to the appeals sent out, a refrigerator, freezer and a two-plate stove have been donated to Zimele by various Friends of Headway. Being able to keep food fresh in the summer months and the luxury of cooking with electricity instead of paraffin or an open fire on the ground are wonderful improvements. It should be again pointed out that, for many of the children, the meal served at the centre is often the only decent meal they will get that day.

Along with some of the Headway staff, the Zimele staff has planned an Activity Programme for the children which is aimed at enriching their lives and improving their capabilities as much as possible. In addition, we have released our Occupational Therapy Assistant, Lesley Vezi, to spend each Wednesday at Zimele teaching woodwork and pottery (he can walk to the centre as he lives in Molweni). It means that we have to manage without him at Headway on those days but we believe that this is one of the reasons that we paid for Lesley's training - to put something back into his own community (Les would like to say a big thank you to Bryan Taylor of Xpanda Security for his donation of woodworking tools for Zimele).

Again, thanks to the grants received, renovations and repairs are soon to be carried out at Zimele - 64 small window panes need replacing, new doors need to be fitted and the numerous holes in the roof and walls need to be repaired (I was at the centre one cold day recently and the children were all wrapped up in blankets as the bitter wind was whistling through the holes and under and around the broken doors. Ed.)

This month Zipho Mkhize (Headway and Zimele OTA who trained at the same time as Lesley) organised an outing to Waterfall Cinema for two groups of children on two different days. Most of the children had never seen a movie before and it was a thrilling experience for them. A Spring Open Day will be held in September to showcase the work being done at the centre - parents, committee members, Valley Trust staff and Headway representatives will be invited - and in October an outing to the beach with the Headway attendees is being planned.

We record here our heartfelt condolences to Joyce Khanyile who has been teaching at Zimele for the past 6 years. During the July holidays her son was killed and the tragedy was made worse by the fact that only 8 months previously she lost another son in tragic circumstances. Our thoughts and prayers are with her.

Headway Health Day
It looks like our Health Day is ON!! Saturday 27 September at Headway House - PLEASE DIARISE NOW! We have managed at last to obtain cholesterol strips and, as last year, we will be open to the public to have free testing of cholesterol, blood sugars and blood pressure as well as hearing and vision.