While #NAF2019 hits its straps and a blustery wind blows #Festinos from entertainment venues into cosy little retreats, the business of Makhanda / Grahamstown carries on.
Hats off to Rotary Club of Grahamstown Sunset, GBS Mutual Bank, PG Glass Grahamstown. Through their leadership and sponsorship Social Grant recipients have toilet facilities in High Street on Payout days. This may seem trivial to the affluent but spare a thought for those who spend hours queuing to withdraw their monthly grant. Humbling to talk to the gentleman on sticks being escorted to the ATM by a young family member. A tougher life one is hard-pressed to imagine yet he maintains a sunny disposition. Enormous dignity in the face of hardship.
Our afternoon of #NAF2019 entertainment includes “Artifice” by Stuart Lightbody. Billed as a “wide-eyed (experience) in the presence of the obviously impossible”. Intriguing.
We’ll then let that blustery wind blow us into one of those cosy little retreats. The treat of #11DaysOfAmazing continues.
PS – Rotary long term vision is to build proper public toilet facilities in Makhanda / Grahamstown. This just a start. Would be great to have support of Big Banks.
PPS – special mention to Izak Smuts for driving this initiative.
Nedbank
Capitec Bank, Grahamstown
Standard Bank Grahamstown
Absa Bank
FNB
GRAEME HOLMES
Before moving back to Grahamstown in Oct 2017, Graeme was a bank executive based in the big smoke and craziness of Joburg. He has 20 years’ experience in the Payments Industry. He is a Chartered Accountant, has a Masters in Management by Research (MMR) from Wits Business School, and attended an Advanced Management Programme (AMP) offered by INSEAD (The Business School for the World!) in France.
Graeme is the founder of The Grahamstown Project. It’s simple. He says, “Grahamstown is a microcosm of South Africa. If we can’t get this place to function properly then the whole country is stuffed. Many of the troubles we experience as a country today have their roots here in Grahamstown. it is here where black and white people first engaged in conflict on the African continent. It is here where 9 wars of dispossession over 100 years took place and virtually destroyed the amaXhosa nation. But we are where we are. I don’t have a British passport and the boat-trip back to where my ancestors came from is exorbitantly expensive. Furthermore, this is my home. I am a son of Africa. We must work together to redress the injustices of the past and move as one into a brighter future.”
Graeme is an avid historian, writer, vlogger and public speaker. Like and follow the Facebook page. Join him on a tour. Contact him. He would love that.