2022 04 Zoom Presentation from South Africa

Gathering Together: An Update from South Africa –presentation by Lara Olson

The club welcomed Laetitia Jager and Lara Olson (via zoom) to give an update of events at the Crisis Centre in Scottburgh South Africa. Laetitia has recently moved to the USA to take up a teaching role. She has been our contact in South Africa and introduced us to Lara who heads a family initiated charity called Gathering Together based along the Natal south coast whose purpose is to engage with local communities in order to raise humanitarian levels through training and education.

 Amongst a number of local projects that Gathering Together undertakes is supporting clients who call on the needs of the Crisis Centre at GJ Crookes hospital and who have been subjected to attacks of sexual violence. (South Africa suffers from some of the worst levels in the world which are some five times that experienced in the UK). The Scottburgh Crisis Centre is the centre our club (supported by Godalming Woolsack) joined with Scottburgh Rotary Club (now sadly no longer) to create a children’s playground.

Since completion of the playground COVID together with local riots have created a greater need for food support together with hygiene products for the victims. In November 2021 our club made a further donation to enable the Crisis Centre to purchase food to provide for the traumatised families visiting the centre

Lara explained that our donation has enabled the purchase of stackable sealed plastic buckets of food and hygiene products. After having consumed the contents the buckets went on to have many uses around the home. By filling the basic needs of the families, recent traumas can be dealt with more effectively.

Gathering Together will continue to promote making communities a better place through engagement and leadership training.

  Robert Morrison