A Night of Story Telling from Zinzi's Blog

Date Released: Wed, 15 June 2011 16:57 +0200

An important part of any organization involved in quality distance teaching and learning is a reliable vehicle to get them to their students. On-site support visits form part of the assessments of CSD’s early childhood development and community development courses and facilitators have to sometimes travel as far as Mthatha.
Nobody knew this better than Mrs Thelma Henderson who started CSD 30 years ago. Her only criteria when CSD was buying a vehicle was that it should seat three “mammas” comfortably at the back.
Recently CSD was able to purchase a brand new vehicle from a generous bequest of the Late Mrs Thelma Henderson’s estate. Thelma’s van as she is called by CSD staff, also partly funded from National Agency Development grant money, comes at the right time since both their previous vehicles were unreliable and facilitators could not use them to travel far distances. The Henderson daughters, Margie Keeton and Angie Marriner attended a function at CSD recently and agreed that their mom would certainly approve of the new CSD vehicle.

The “I have a story to tell” event took place at CSD’s training venue where we listened to stories from people who shared their journeys with CSD: Thelma Henderson’s daughter, Angie Marinner, shared her memories about her mom and CSD. Mr Moyikwa, Ms Daki Nkayi and Ms Joyce Teyise also shared their stories. I learned so much more about the organisation I work for.

Mr Moyikwa, a Self Help Group member, told us he got involved with CSD because of his love for hand work and ability to fend for himself instead of waiting for handouts. He told us that CSD had helped him meet so many people whom had inspired his group to keep dreaming and working towards achieving so much more than they had ever imagined.

Ms Daki Nkayi told us about her ten years at CSD being the most valuable years of her life. She wanted to tell the audience mostly about the organisation being a place of learning and development. She had been working for almost 30 years and the most valuable growth and experience she got out of those years was from the 10 years spent at CSD. Because of CSD she was brave enough to start her own company. She felt that she was ready and well-equipped to take this bold step. And she was not afraid of failure because here she learned to laugh at her mistakes, learn from them and move on. In closing she said, “CSD, forward march; backwards never!”

The last speaker was Joyce Teyise, whom was most surprised that she was on the speaker’s list. She told us about her humble beginnings at CSD coming straight from a farm to the city. She was inspired to study first her diploma, then ACE and most recently got her B.Ed. CSD had taught her courage and that giving up due to circumstances was never an option. Her love for children and the community also inspired her throughout the years.

I learned that the work we do is not for the faint hearted. I work for an organisation filled with mothers of the Grahamstown (and surrounding areas) community. Their job is of the most loving nature and brings to life the old saying, “It takes a village to raise a child”. They breed into these communities more mothers and fathers who spread the word through education. I learned from them what it means to choose a profession I am passionate about. It has been 30 years since CSD opened its doors and throughout all these years it is still filled with people who care so much for the cause and why it began. It certainly was a beautiful night.

Picture: Thelma's Van, CSD's new bakkie.