2024 reflections

 

It has been a busy year with valleys and mountain top moments. As we enter a new year, we do not know what lies ahead. I always pray and ask God to give me a bible verse for the year to guide me. This year, I have prayed often. My faith grounds me. His word is an anchor and a pathway to guide my steps. A reminder to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and direction. This brings peace, even during the storms of life.

I have joined a local church here in Somerset West and enjoying building new relationships and being able to serve others. I have now been here for four years, and it is feeling more like home.

For 2024 the verse is:

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Psalm 119:105

My sister, Carol arrived for a short visit in January, and we were able to celebrate my birthday together. It was a busy ten days. Always tough when we live so far apart.

Those who follow me on Facebook, know that I post beautiful sunset pictures over the ocean from my apartment. I am blessed to live here. In creating an unusual rental agreement with my friends, we agreed that I exit when they come on holiday from the USA. This happened in Feb/March this year. Time to evaluate, living a nomad life for 5 weeks. It stretched me, kept my life quite simple and I was able to use what would have been the rental money to visit White River, Johannesburg, Hartbeespoort. Simons Town and Fishhoek. Grateful to my friends and family who created space for me in their lives and homes over this time.

During this time, while in Hartbeespoort area with my dear friend, Daphne, I received the news of the sudden death of one of my dearest friends. Jenny and I have been friends for more than 40-years. We met when our children were at nursery school. Jen is the one person, who has been around and lived close for all these years. Florida Glen, Northcliff, Hartbeespoort Dam and then Cape Town. We shared so much history. Jen had the most amazing sense of humour and always brought a smile to any conversation. Multi- talented and creative. Jen laid our gardens in my homes, created flowers and décor at special birthdays and was at the bedside of those we lost along the path of life. Mostly to cancer while our children were at Cliffview and Northcliff High. I regret so much, not being able to do the same for Jen.

My family have also had interesting changes in their lives. Both the Thai and UK families have moved homes this year. I look forward to visiting in these new places when I travel. Bron, Noiy and family had a holiday in South Korea and then moved to Bangkok in July. Naomi was awarded a scholarship at the International Community School of Bangkok. They live close to the school and have adapted to apartment living in the city. It is wonderful for Daniel too as they now can watch more matches, and it is easier for him to be home when not training. Bronwyn turned forty-two this year and was determined to complete her first 42km marathon before her birthday. It is wonderful to see her being able to run again.

Justin, Sarah, and the girls came to visit me here in Cape Town in October. How wonderful to share quality time with them. The girls will be turning thirteen at the end of Feb 2025 and are now thriving in their second year of high school. The new house offers them more space, better proximity to the school and not too far away from where they were before. Their season in Pyrford was a happy one. I hope to visit in 2025.

                                                                                         

At 50Plus-Skills, we talk about learning, serving, and earning. Last year with the GROW ECD project, it turned out to be a better earning year. This year, the gift was LEARNING. It started out with a mail early in the year, letting me know that I had been short listed by Ashoka for a fellowship. https://www.ashoka.org/en-za. This organisation highlights and collaborates with social entrepreneurs all around the world and it is a great honour to be nominated. It was a lengthy process of creating all the documents and then I had to go up to Johannesburg for a series of interviews. It is divided into two sections. In the first section, I had a four-hour one-on-one interview from an Ashoka person, who flew in from the US to do the interview. If they feel you have enough impact already in your model, you go through to the next round with three judges. The first interviewer felt that our model still needed more work, and I then exited and may be invited back in the future.

The second nomination came a little later in the year from one of our 50Plus-Skills members, Rene Vosloo, who nominated me for Businesswoman of the Year for the South African Council of Businesswoman. I was humbled by this nomination and attended the finals in October. In the finals, the person from Nelspruit was announced as the winner. I hope that through this organisation we will be able to grow and connect with more members for our organisation.

The third part of my learning journey happened through The Bertha Centre of Social Entrepreneurship. I was accepted into a program called The Healthy Futures Accelerator. This was a steep learning curve. Seventeen modules of business science and ten assignments in five weeks. I then made it through to the next phase which was twelve weeks of lectures from UCT Business School, twice a week and a final pitch in early December in front of a panel of judges. I am still in a state of shock as we were awarded second prize with grant funding of R 200 000 from the Mastercard Foundation in Canada. This allows us extra funding to grow our business in 2025 and beyond. I am grateful to my team and every person who has invested in being a member of our community. Why not join us: https://50plus-skills.co.za/individuals/

Frank and Marina have had a busy second half of 2024. They purchased a home in Fishhoek and moved in early October. The move happened between the birth of their first two grandsons and the wedding of the third triplet in December. It was a privilege to officiate the wedding for Al and Sharike. It has been so wonderful to welcome two new babies into the family with a third following in early January 2025 in Ireland. (John’s daughter, Jessica) This adds three new great grandchildren for Granny Dot. How she would have loved to see all her grandchildren thriving and now becoming parents. The gap is twelve and a half years since the twins were born. I am delighted to be the great Aunt to these beautiful new babies.

I have enjoyed visits from several friends throughout the year. It is wonderful to live on the beach and have the room to enjoy time with friends. This is also the 50^th anniversary of leaving Pretoria High School for Girls. A group of us could not make it to Pretoria, so we met at The Vineyard for a celebration.

As the year ends, I am so grateful for good health, wonderful family, and precious friends. My work offers me a new tribe of people with wonderful growth mindsets, a place of belonging and purpose. These are intangible assets that create a solid foundation built on my foundations of faith.

I wish you God’s richest blessings over the Christmas week. I am excited to be leaving on a jet plane for Bangkok as we welcome in the New Year. Thank you for reading my blog post and being a blessing in my life this year.