Maurita is at home

Dear all,
Apologies for the lack of communication this week:I took a little break, and I did not take my lap top! it was so liberating!
Anyhow, maurita went home this afternoon: she is in the own home, in her own bed, and is at this stage trying to avoid falling over the cats! She has mastered her zimmer frame (!) and she is a whizz on crutches. I know she is relieved to be back in her own home territory. It was her boys' 9th birthday today, so she was able to hobble with the help of Richard to the Mount Nelson for a little afternoon tea, and as she came home, the boys were taken to crazy- golf.What a wonderful present for them, to finally have Mom back.

Maurita.

Thank you to everyone for all your calls, letters, e mails, texts and messages of concern. This week has been quite a helter- skelter of emotions:it seems incredible that Maurita is as well as she is after just one week: she has been through quite an ordeal. We have spoken every day, and each day I can hear the strength returning to her voice. I have even started to joke a little with her, although I am very aware that it still hurts to laugh, poor thing!
She is taking great care of herself, and cannot fault the hospital: they are truly Nursing her with a capital N: it sounds like the team is very, very caring, and don't just see her as a number. This certainly must help in the healing process. They are very tender and kind with her, and have helped her in so many ways. She is getting along very well with her physiotherapy, and is optimistic that she will be home before too long. Come home safely.

Asemahle and Palesa

Dr Du Toit at Eye Q fitted Asemahle and Palesa with glasses last week. Thanks to the perseverance Leigh Anne, who made lots of calls and sent lots f e mails, and Penne of Constantia Rotary,and one of our volunteers, who helped clinch the arrangement, we have managed to secure 20 pairs of frames for the year for our Shine Children. Incidentally, Asemahle's face was a little too wide for the children's glasses that were donated, so Dr Du Toit let her choose some that she liked... I believe she chose a very fancy designer frame, lucky girl! Both girls were made a huge fuss of, and it was a lovely outing for them both. Carrie and Leigh Anne, two of our links, helped complete the adventure with a little Happy Meal after the fitting. Thank you to all involved, who have made this very needed donation possible. What a wonderful web of care we have surrounding us.

Val, one of our glamorous board members, and PR guru.

A Shine mention in True Love. Thanks Val!

looking forward to a time we can continue on our journey together

I was looking through my photos this evening, and came across this one: it was taken when we were planning our three new centres towards the end of last year. it started me thinking: what a long way we have all come together in a very short space of time. Four centres, over 200 volunteers, 200 children a year, 400 teaching hours a week:it makes me tired just thinking about it! Tired, but proud of the wonderful team work that has helped make this all happen, A dream, a small seed, a possibility, a reality.
I was happy to report back to Maurita that I had a meeting with St Agnes in Woodstock this morning, along with Mr Louw the Principal and Maureen Archer, one of Shine's early board members. Maureen was a lecturer of Maurita's, and is working in the classroom with the grade 7's at St Agnes. She has offered to oversee a small Shine satellite centre at St Agnes. We are looking upon it as a pilot scheme. Less Shine involvement, but sharing our expertise, training, support and ideas: a pared down version of The Shine Centre, focusing on paired reading, shared reading and have a go writing. The school is small, with only 20 pupils needing to come to Shine to begin with, so it is easy to manage and run. If you have any friends who may want to come and volunteer at our new satellite Shine, please pass them my way. The school is just off main Road by Nando's in Woodstock, and very near the Biscuit Mill, so an early morning coffee or late breakfast, and a lovely browse in the Bead shop may appeal after teaching!

I spoke to Maurita early this morning: she was asking for natural yogurt, dates, and peppermint tea.....she is getting her appetite back, but wants to eat only healthily, which we can all relate to. she is very comfortable in Worcester, and mentioned that she may stay there until she is ready to leave hospital. The staff know her, she likes them ( she says her Afrikaans is getting better by the hour!) and the whole family are incredibly touched and impressed by the level of continuity of care a small, yet world class, hospital can provide.

I estimate that we have received over one hundred e mails since Monday enquiring about maurita and sending their wishes and prayers, so we are cutting and pasting them into word documents to save paper, and dating and printing them all off, and putting them into a file. I will possibly go through to see Maurita over the weekend, so I will take the first batch through to her.

Another piece of very good news: Maurita has been put forward for an award of excellence in the field of Reconciliation:the organisation want to get together next week to start their 'due diligence.' I believe she was nominated by several people, so thank you for creating an awareness around Maurita and The Shine Centre with such a prestigious organisation. We all know she deserves this recognition: I have known Maurita since we were both 21 years old, and she has always put others before herself.
Thank you for ensuring that things run smoothly at this difficult time. Having Maurita out of the organisation means that we are all under duress, and it is good to know things can run smoothly in her absence. It is all about sustainability, and this is what we are aiming to achieve, so this is a good test for all of us! More over the weekend.

Wednesday 16th September.

For all for your wonderful e mails, texts, meals and messages of well wishing over the last two days, a huge thank you. Your responses have been completely overwhelming in many ways.

Maurita will probably be back in Cape Town by the weekend: she is feeling better every day, and she even requested a window and lots more light today, so she was moved to another bed: that's our girl!

She has a long road ahead of her, and I think only now is the full extent of her injuries hitting home:shocking by anyone's standards. She knows that you will all will her along, and she truly recognises how special the people are who surround her: you will all help contribute to what we all hope is a full recovery. We are all, in Maurita's words, in 'the web of care' surrounding her. Thank you, thank you. More tomorrow.x x

An update

So: I spoke to Maurita on the phone today: oh, joy! I couldn't believe it! We had a great catch up, and she started to talk about work, which i ignored of course. She must just GET BETTER. It is extraordinary how well she has done in such a short space of time. She received visitors again this afternoon, and was on good form. The thought is that if she continues to improve at this rate, she may be moved through to Cape Town either tomorrow or Thursday. This is brilliant news,and is a huge relief for ALL OF US! We just want her back in Cape Town, and no more frightening moments, please. I think we must wrap her in cotton wool from now on, and no more tractors!

Update on Maurita

As many of you may now know, Maurita was involved in an accident over the weekend. She has sustained some pretty nasty injuries, and will be in hospital for the next few weeks, we think. I saw her this afternoon, and she was awake, and talking, although weak and in pain. she will be ok, but I think it will be a long road. In the meantime, I will blog as i get updates on her progress. She is still in ICU as I write, but the nurse was hopeful that she will be moving to a regular ward tomorrow, and can be moved from Worcester to Constantiaberg hospital, Cape Town, by the end of the week if all goes well. She can only receive family visitors at the moment, and is unable to receive gifts at the hospital, but this may change once she has changed wards and is out of Intensive care.

As soon as I have more information, I will blog, and Trevor, one of our colleagues, will pass on a little update via SMS for those of you who have left us your cell phone details.

Many thanks to all of you for the overwhelming contact of care, concern and love, and thank you for all the offers of practical help: it is at times like this we realise how blessed we are to have such wonderful volunteers and friends.