Our donors – at the heart of everything we do.

Last year we held a Wine & Soup function at Durbanville Hills wine estate, for our donors who live in the northern suburbs of Cape Town.

The event was an opportunity to meet some of our donors and show them in person how much we appreciate their support. The Wine & Soup day was the perfect way to do this, because getting together to share soup and wine has long been a custom of friends.

The day also featured a performance by guest artist Andriette Norman, a former Idols contestant.

An enjoyable day was had by all – and we all headed home with taste buds tickled with delicious flavours and spirits nourished with friendship. Now that’s enough to warm the heart!

Francois Jacobs, the first blind athlete to complete all three events at Ironman South Africa (3.8km swim in the sea, 180km cycle and 42.2km run) in 2008, agreed to do the Ironman contest again,but this year he will do it to the Council’s benefit.

We will track his progress and report on our website, social media pages and newsletters. Please join us in supporting Francois to show the world what blind people can achieve.

Watch this space for competitions and more developments related to this event. The Spec Savers Ironman SA will take place on 22 April 2012 in Nelson Mandela Bay.

Thank you Virgin Active SA for being Francois’ official Health & Fitness Partner!

If you want to sponsor Francois, click here.

Brief background:
Francois Jacobs (41), is an enthusiastic, totally blind cyclist with many successful Argus cycle tours behind his name as well as a Comrades’ Marathon. Francois’ guide in the 2008 Ironman was Jurie Krige. This year he will compete with the assistance of, Kevin Willemse who also assisted him in 2011. Francois completed his first event in less than 14 hours – three hours before the cut-off time.

Since then Francois has trained a lot more and is receiving professional training to better his swimming techniques. Francois and Kevin are also training on open water swimming at the well-known Leisure Lakes and they will participate in the Midmar Mile event on 11 and 12 February 2012 as well.

We want to use this opportunity to thank Leisure Lakes for allowing Francois and Kevin to use their facilities free of charge to train and prepare for their swim.

“It is the most amazing feeling to have hundreds of spectators cheering you on by name. There is just no way you can give up.”  These are the words of Francois Jacobs - after his first Ironman SA event. .

Click on the file below to read the article we published in the 2008 Imfama on Francois’ first Ironman.

Join us on our Facebook page for regular updates on Francois’ preparations and to be the first to see the details of our competitions, or see the amount of money he is generating for us on the Do it for Charity website.

The photo with this article is of Francois and his guide, Kevin Willemse finishing the Ironman SA in 2011.

This is the heartfelt letter from Francois to all the people who 'like' his Facebook page in the first two weeks:

"Friends, helpers, volunteers: we salute you

You will have gathered from the number of hits on this FB page that I know a fair amount of people and they, in turn, know a lot of people. But what is not obvious from this is the caliber of some really amazing people who have helped me to get to this poin.t

I think of people such as Pam Reynecke who took on the daunting task of teaching a crazy blind guy how to swim from scratch, with a full-day follow-up swim session by Georgie Thomas, exceptional guide athletes such as Jurie Krige and now Kevin Willemse who were prepared to sacrifice a much faster personal Ironman time to enable me to complete the event. There's Allan Williamson who juggles his schedule to do neighbourhood afternoon runs with me, Theo Coetzee who always manages to find a beer stop along a social cycling route, long-time friend Vanessa Ivorson who once put us up for Ironman weekend when we couldn't afford peak season accommodation tariffs, members from Nico Sterk's training squad who are always willing to give me a ride to swim and track sessions. The list is endless. What they all had in common is that they were confronted with the unknown, and I am sure they must have had misgivings, but they all put their prejudices around blindness aside and gave of themselves to change my life completely.

If this was only my sports-related connections, imagine the length of the list if I had to elaborate on the many people who so generously give of themselves whenever they see a need.

I don't know why they do it, and neither do I think that I'm the only lucky recipient of such unselfish acts of kindness. In fact, they are all around us.
Humans are a proud species and it is not always easy to accept help, but what I am learning from all this is to accept with grace and to assist others wherever I can. It is once we have started giving that we realise that it is often more rewarding than receiving. And when you are presented with the opportunity to give, it is not about returning the favour, but rather to become part of the chain and help whoever you can by whatever means you can.

What a long-winded soapbox soliloquy, when the only thing I really wanted to say was "Thank you" - to all of you.

In case you were wondering, I am completely sober, I promise :-)

And a final thought for now: While I am grateful and humbled by some of your comments, I want to stress that this whole drive is not about me or about you, but about an organisation that also has a large volunteer contingent and which provides essential services to some less fortunate than you or me. I hope that through this campaign we can ensure the continued delivery on some crucial projects that are aimed at the upliftment and advancement of blind individuals.

Thank you very much for your comments on my wall. They are inspirational, and I appreciate every one of them.

- before it is too late

Experience this enlightening exhibition! Don't miss out...

The “Dialogue in the Dark” exhibition challenges the way people perceive blindness as sighted people are guided in complete darkness through every day settings - by blind guides.

Do yourself the favour of attending this specially constructed and totally darkened exhibition. Using sounds, wind, temperatures and textures, Dialogue in the Dark conveys the characteristics of a series of daily environments, like a park or a café. In a complete reversal of roles, visitors are provided with a sense of security and orientation by their blind or partially sighted guides.

The Dialogue in the Dark exhibition has been presented in more than 30 countries and over 160 sites throughout Europe, Asia and America receiving tremendous feedback from visitors. Six and a half million visitors have experienced Dialogue in the Dark worldwide, and over 6,000 blind people have been provided with employment.

They also host functions in the dark! So if you would like something different for a teambuilding exercise or even a year-end function, phone them to arrange an event that will be talked about for many years, and might even convince your boss that you deserve a raise!

Visit the blog spot for the local exhibition or the international Dialogue in the Dark website.

The exhibition runs at the Sci Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown, Johannesburg. Please contact Sci Bono to book on: 011 639-8437 or email them by clicking here to book your tickets.

They also do functions! So book now for a new and exciting experience.

By Neville Clarence

Neville Clarence, with administrative support from St Dunstan’s Association for South African War Blinded Veterans, is planning the 15th IKK – International Congress of War Blind Organisations – to be held from 15 to 18 May 2012, at a game lodge near Pretoria.

The Congress is a General Assembly of War Blind, held every three years in the country of the President, elected at the previous Congress. It is named IKK after the acronym of the German title of Internationale Kriegsblinden Kongress – in English, the “International War Blind Congress”.

Neville was elected President of the current 15th IKK in 2009 during the 14th Congress held in Italy. Other members of the directorate are: Vice Presidents Raymond Hazan of the United Kingdom; Dieter Reinelt of Germany; and Pierre Tricot of France.

With its arrival for the first time in South Africa, the 15th IKK brings an African perspective to a congress with long traditions established over sixty years from its origins soon after World War II.

Neville’s aim is to expand the network of organisations to include countries recently and currently in conflict, especially those in Africa, with the intention of bringing the organisation in line with changing global circumstances and to foster the spirit of reconciliation amongst the member organisations.

For all our perception of the history of conflict and struggle on the African continent, there is not much known about how many war blind are living in Africa, under what conditions and what facilities are available to them. Participation by African states will create a better awareness of this and an opportunity for such persons to share information and experiences with other organisations for war blind and to network with them after the congress.

IKK is a non-governmental, non-profit and non-political forum of international organisations for war blind, with the aims of protecting and promoting the improvement of living conditions of war blind - ex combatants and civilian war victims, ensuring that they enjoy civil and social rights and are fully integrated into their communities. IKK is also committed to preventing the spread of war and the use of firearms produced to cause blindness.

Participation and membership are encouraged and open to all organisations for War Blind in all countries of the world, irrespective of how members were blinded or which force they were serving at the time of their injury. These organisations are expected to facilitate IKK communications among all their war blind members and are asked to send two or more delegates to each Congress. Sixty delegates and their sighted guides from countries all over the world are expected at the 15th IKK.

IKK is financed by participating organisations and by sponsorships raised by the President. Contributions are used solely to fund the IKK Congress and to provide financial assistance to ordinary members who need it.

Official invitations and information will be sent in July 2011 to interested and qualified organisations.

Contact Neville Clarence via email.

Casual Day - we've got the rockstar look

Council's Fundraising and Public Relations division enjoyed dressing up for Casual Day. We hope next year you will join us. This team rocks!