Jozi7degrees

Mad Tea Party

2010-03-12T07:33:00.000-08:00

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?

Because there was a Party, like no Party on earth.
A Tea Party full of wonder, mystery and danger.
Some say to survive it you needed to be as mad as a hatter,
Which luckily I am... or was... am...?

So we enjoyed some tea… and cup cakes and cocktails. Those that didn't care for tea, at least made polite conversation!

So we had our very important date: Sunday March 7th 2010!

We had Tea, you C, and then went through the looking glass in 3D to find "Alice in Wonderland" and raised R8997.05 for the Faces of Hope Foundation.

Thank you to our Sponsors:

Debbie and Sue of Camelot International for the venue
Maria of The Bread Basket for the cupcakes
Sharika of Party Creations for the crockery
Annica of Annica’s Deli & Bakery for the sweet delights
The team at Original Iced Cocktails for the daiquiris and pina coladas
Dean of Coffee Boyz for the cappuccinos and teas
Brian of Oppenheimer Conference and Banqueting Centre for the savoury snacks
Lantz of Vox Data Pro for technical support
Carol of Carol Cole Advertising for the invitation design
Craig Nicholson for the awesome Photography

Thank you too to Catherine, Viv and Lorraine who made some children's Monday by delivering the left over yummy food to the Troyville Baptist Church Creche and Fairview Primary School.

The fantastic and crazy photos are online- go tag yourselves ludicrously!
On Facebook here and on flickr here.
Craig's photo's are on Facebook here and on flickr here.

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!

Christmas Cheers for a Cause!

2010-01-31T08:26:00.000-08:00

Ho ho ho!
We met for some drinks and a bite to eat at Molly Malones with lots of Christmas Spirit. We all dropped some coins into a stocking to help Mohau's Home For Disabled Orphans in Vosloorus to paint their new home!

A few days later Telana went to drop off the R432.10 that we raised, at Mohau's Home in Vosloorus, and helped out at the Car Wash to help raise more funds.

More photo's here on Facebook

Party like a Pirate!

2009-09-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

Ahoy Pirate Crew fer the Ship Movida!

What a party we had, me mateys! Me First Mates Pirates Melissa and Megan and I, Cap'n Telana, thank ya heartily fer drinkin' and dancin' fer charity with us! You're mighty fine Pirates, you are, arrrr!

I counted the loot in me treasure chest, and we raised R6958.20 fer the Bookshelf Project, so 'em sprogs will be getting new bookshelves and books to fill 'em up and keep their imaginations alive! Aye!!

A "Aye Aye Hooray" to the winners of 'em prizes:

Best Dressed Pirates: Jody and Liesle

Best Pirate Pick up Line: Kim

Best Talking like a Pirate buccaneer: Dayne

We'd also like t' thank Carol fer designing t' inv'tation and prize labels, and Movida fer being our Party Ship!

The photo's of you rapscallions have set sail on facebook and flickr- so go tag y'rselves silly! Garr!

Till our next Party Ship sets sail,
Fair winds!

Cap'n Tyrannical Telana

Fer the Jozi7degrees Crew

Party like a Pirate-19 Sept

2009-09-08T04:34:00.000-07:00

All Hope Abandon, Ye Who Read This

Ahoy, me hearty!

Aye, it's time t' Party like a Pirate in honour o' International Talk like a Pirate day on 19th September.

So unleash your inner Buccaneer and dust off that pirate hat. Start brushin' up on your pirate talk and pick up lines. Gar

We're lookin' for all the booty nickin', rum drinkin', carousin', sword fightin', buckle swashin' Pirates in Jozi and beyond!

You'll need t' rsvp t' get on the guest list, or you'll be walkin' the plank.

Ahoy, all the loot gathard from this e'ent will be goin' t' the charity "Bookshelf Project" t' fund books for underpri'ileged sprogs, so they too can read about Captain Hook and Blackbeard.

Yarrr, so follow the Treasure Map and show us your Pirattitude, you raucous lot o' rapscallions!

Details
Date: Saturday 19 September 2009
Time: 19:30 for 20:00 –don't be late (if you arrive after 9:00 thar will be a fine -as in cover charges will apply)
Venue: Movida, Sunninghill
Age restriction applies: Gents 25 & Ladies 23
Dress code: Strictly stylish Pirates
Donation: R150 per person (includes welcome grog & grub) All proceeds in aid o' the Bookshelf Project. Cash Bar

Arrr, RSVP essential: contact Cap'n Tyrannical Telana, the Pirate Queen o' the Kootenays on jozi7degrees@gmail.com or 083 730 2979 by Friday 11th September to confirm you're one o' the motley crew on the Pirate Party ship.

Fair Winds!

Join the Facebook Event here

The Bookshelf and Learning Project

2009-08-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

The Bookshelf and Learning Project was initiated last year (2008) as a result of the efforts of the Sandton Rotaract club to support a child care centre that was established by the Sandton Rotary club at Itsoseng, an informal settlement just past the Lion Park.

At the time, the Rotaract club had raised money to buy a bookshelf, but didn't have enough money to purchase anything that was big enough to meet the needs of the centre, and that was the start of The Bookshelf Project – a bookshelf 1.8 meters wide, 1.5 meters high and with really thick shelves was built.

The vision of the project is to facilitate a love of reading, to make a resource available to the children that would not otherwise have access to books and to empower them with skills and confidence that will academic careers.

The first goal of the project is to partner with as many centres as possible, to build bookshelves for these centres and to fill these bookshelves with books that will bring joy, happiness, dreams, hope, passion, learning and all the other good things that come from reading. The second goals is to run study skills and support programs for as many children as possible.

Based on the pilot project that was initiated in August last year:

The Itsoseng Centre has grown to over 170 children and new children are joining the centre all the time!
A second bookshelf has been installed and almost 1000 books have been given to the centre. Although there are a lot of ways to collect books, the key is to ensure that the books given to the centres are books that will make a difference and are books that will be used.
The bookshelf now has a full encyclopaedia, annotated dictionaries, study guides and text books, reference books, reading books for the older kids, stories for the younger kids, picture books, books that are being used by the kindergarten teacher who does extra classes for the younger kids on Saturday mornings, books written by South African authors, a selection of books around SA history and a whole lot of others.
These books have been received from a number of sources including Crawford Primary School – Sandton, Books Galore in Lonehill and Sunninghill, Hay House Publishers as well as a number of friends and family and anonymous doners.
According to Paulos, the gentleman that runs the centre, there has been a marked increase in the number of the older kids that are coming into the centre who would previously have been going into the shebeens, a result of the resource that is now available to them.
Reading groups have become a common part of the centre with the older kids reading to the younger kids. The last time I was there, about 40 of the younger kids were crowded around one of the older kids, mesmerized as she read to them.
There has also been a marked improvement in the language skills of the older kids as a result of the dictionaries and the support that Paulos is giving to them.
On most Saturday mornings, additional kindergarten classes are run by a wonderful lady called Rose whose lessons are facilitated by the resource that she now has access to.
Through the project, R435, 000 has been raised as individual 'scholarships' for a number of kids. This money will be used to further their education. It is intended that some of this money will be used to buy glasses for the kids that need them – not being able to see the board is a serious barrier. R300, 000 has also been collected for three schools!
A series of study methods courses was run towards the end of last year and more are planned this year. According to Paulos, there was a 90% pass rate last year across all the kids that attended the study methods sessions which was very exciting as I anticipated a much lower pass rate. In order to facilitate these workshops it is the intention to train Paulos so that he will be able to not only help the kids at Itsoseng, but also run workshops in other centres. As it was he was an integral part of the success we achieved last year given the trust that he has with the kids and his capacity to translate and explain some of the concepts in the kids' first language.
From a bigger perspective, I have started to make contact with other Rotary groups, community initiatives, individuals and other centres and am looking to set up a number of similar initiatives given the success and the learning from this one.
At this stage, a goal has been created to set up at least another 10 to 15 bookshelves in the next year or so and to thereby provide a resource to thousands of children and to this end a second reading scheme has already been initiated in the rural surrounds of Umtata.
There has been a number of other charitable organisations that have also benefitted as a result of this initiative as books that are unsuitable for the kids have been handed on to these organisations. As an example, I do not give any books containing violence etc. to the kids. There have also been quite a few books that have been donated that are just not that suitable e.g. I received a very beautiful book on Victorian furniture that was quite valuable, but not in Itsoseng.
Over 2000 books have been given to these charities so far. At an average of R30 per book, this equates to approximately R60, 000 that will help these charities. The goal this year is to collect 10, 000 books for these charities.
On this note I am currently setting up a 'library' system with Paulos and the kids to control how the books are used and to ascertain which books are the most popular and where do we need to focus on collecting in the future.
As more and more centres are set up, I am also anticipating that once or twice a year books are swapped between centres which will help to ensure that there is a continuous stock of new books and that the older books are replaced. (I guess that there will be favourites which will be kept by each of the centres).
In so doing, the model becomes sustainable and the effort now will result in benefits for at least the next 5 to 10 years or more. It is also my intention to create a set of books that will be kept together and circulated through the centres containing favourites that may have to be bought e.g. Roald Dahl

As each bookshelf is filled, a treasure-trove is created that will be a delight to thousands, if not tens of thousands of children into the future and with reading as a skill, opportunities will be provided to these children that may not have even be dreamt about; and as each child is empowered to learn, a future is opened that would never have been possible otherwise.

For more information contact Chris on +2782 363 1958

Kiss me neck! We went to Cool Runnings!

2009-08-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

Coo yah!

Hail my Bwai's and Sisters!

We went dung to cease and sekkle!
Don't be a hitey-titey topanoris, but rather ease-up, get a bly to be more upful, and put your crucial crosses down. Seen?

We licked Cool Runnings in Melville on Sunday 9 August, to sidung and toast a bit... We did some satta while we laba-laba'd da labrish! We jammed homely style, and did some badness and bangarang after the sun went down, nuh!

After some drinks, we sidung'd and laugh'd at the ranking, hard, bad bwai Don Packett who's da don comedian! no true? Then we filled that wanga-gut with some salt'ing rung-dung.

So we glad you skinned your teeth and galang'd, dally'd over in da wheels and darkers, and brought your dawta and grindsman bwai's! Seen? We mashed it up and had a boonoonoonous of a time!

(For those that want to translate the above, click here for a dictionary)

"Night of Revenge" Movie Premiere Mission

2008-11-17T12:46:00.000-08:00

To: MI6
Re: Mission “Night of Revenge”
Status: Complete

Report:

Background:
In seeking a "Quantum of Solace" and some hope and opportunity for orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa, over 100 Agents were recruited to go on a personal quest for the Premiere of the November 2008 'James Bond' Movie to raise funds for Starfish Charity.

Debrief:
All Agents reported for duty in stylish spy-ish attire, and took part in both the Movie Mission and the Party Mission to their fullest delight!

Awards for dressCODE went to:

Vernon- Best DressCODE

Grant- Most Original DressCODE

Max- Most Daring DressCODE

The last Agents were reported to have left the scene of the Mission, Catwalk, in the early hours of the morning...

We would like to thank the following Accomplices and Agents for their part in making this Mission such a success:

Ziad of Catwalk for the superb Venue
Carol of Carol Cole Advertising & Design for the invitation design
Carey of Starfish for attending and bringing the Storyboards with information on Starfish
Silulami, Jabula and Mildred of Fourways Sterkinekor for the smooth running of the Movie Mission

The Mission was reported to have been a success, and the raised Funds were wired to the (not so) secret bank account of Starfish. The amount donated totalled R8320.00.

Agents are requested to add their comments on the success of the mission to any of the following pages:

Photographic Evidence to support the success of the mission can be found here:

Over and out
Agent 00T
For Jozi7degrees Secret Agents Team

Sun and all that Jazzzzzzzzzzz

2008-09-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

I see trees of green...
...red roses too
I see them bloom...
... for me and for you
And I think to myself...
...what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue...
...no clouds of white
Bright blessed days...
...jazz concert in sight
And I think to myself...
...what a wonderful world

Event info on Facebook here

Photo's available here

Wandering around Wanderers

2008-05-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

Jozi7degrees went for some sportainment to Wanderers to see some Standard Bank Pro20 Series action!

We saw the bizhub Highveld Lions get thrashed by the Nashua Dolphins. And then headed to JB's at Melrose Arch for some hot chocolates with dashes of whisky and richly rich choc brownies. Shan enjoyed her "hot" sangria while those with savory tastes delighted in their baked potatoes!

We raised funds while taking in the cricket action for an orphanage called 'The Power of Woman and Children'. Here's what Mr Mateso said:

It is with a great joy that I would like to thank you for your donation of R230 deposited into our account.

The grant will be used to buy cleaning products for the 5 orphans staying at our orphanage.

May God bless you and all your colleagues for this worthy generosity.

With heartfelt and much appreciation.

Sincerely yours,

Mr. Mufumbe Mateso
Projects-Director
The Power of Women and Children
Tel/Fax: 011 402 8034
Mobile: 082 643 8492

Check out the photo's on facebook here or on our flickr here.

Till next we go wandering!
Telana

Did Ryk arrive for Christmas drinks?

2008-01-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

There was much speculation if Ryk Neethling would in fact arrive at the Jozi Christmas drinks.

The drinks were flowing and everyone got into the Christmas spirit, that Ryk’s presence was not missed.

Fun was had by all as old and new friends met to wish everyone ‘happy happy’.

Enjoy the photos by clicking here! or find them on facebook here!

From the Jozi7degrees Team wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a great 2008.

Stay tuned... Many adventure are in store for 2008!

Swing into Spring

2007-09-05T00:40:00.000-07:00

Jozi7degrees had a fab evening on the 1st September! Not only was there much dancing, laughing, and juggling but also some competitiveness with the auctions! The fundraiser was held in aid of Hospice and raised R35 150,15

A BIG thank you to those who freely offered time, prizes and talents towards the cause:

Devin Howell -the juggler
Stella – the comedian
Vasoula Slabber the artist who donated her oil painting
Pappas on the Square for a restaurant voucher
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/ for doing the Smart bid Auction
Carol Cole for the invitation design
Troy Barwell - our MC and auctioneer and for getting prizes donated
Billy Russell for the limo ride and 2Thai 4 dinner
Sizwe Jantjie for the Holiday Inn Garden Court weekend away
Soteri Panagous for sponsorship and prizes of the Whisky and Ouzo
Wireless Integrated Solutions for sponsoring the sms’s
and to Nicholas Diemont for hosting us at the Country Club.

(Contact us if you want to contact any of the above STARS!)

And another BIG thank you to all who attended and Swung into Spring in style!! :)

Enjoy the photos by clicking here! or find them on facebook here!

Telana, Melissa, Megan and Tracey!

Just some additional background regarding St. Teresa's Hospice, the organisation this charity event raised money for.

St Teresa's cares for the terminally ill eg. cancer, HIV, motor neuron and any other illness that has become terminal.There is no discrimination regardless of race creed or financial status

No TERMINAL patient is ever turned away. St Teresa's Hospice has an In Patient Unit which has 18 beds for adults and 6 beds for children. Unfortunately due to the fact that they are a non-profit organisation the In Patient has to charge a fee which is negotiable. Should it be a state patient then they allow 2 weeks free.

All the children are kept here free of charge as they all come from poverty stricken families. Their Home Care programme is caring for about 150 patients at the moment and that service is FREE. They have 2 Sisters and 14 caregivers in that department.

Wyford Farm Weekend Away!

2007-09-05T00:18:00.001-07:00

Surrounded by horses and sheep, cows and farm dogs, we had a relaxing weekend on the Farm in Drakensburg... by a fire, playing poker, chess and Risk, eating and laughing lots …

Check the photos here!

Maropeng

2007-03-13T11:59:00.000-07:00

A few million years ago the Universe consisted of a mass of turbulent gasses…
And man was but a twinkle in the eye of evolution.
A few million years later… a group of Jozi7degrees Homo Sapiens walked the earth and ventured down to the pit of the earth… a journey to visit their ancestors, through the Cradle of Humankind and into the Maropeng Valley. There, they learnt lessons about their heritage, their human virtues and vices – to love and destroy their world.
They were moved and saddened by their extraordinary capacity to both create and destroy… and in the process they bonded with their fellow men over a picnic in the Maropeng valley.
And we realised we are but stars in our vast universe. So small but so powerful.
And it was good.

Click here to see the photos

吉祥話 (That’s Chinese for loud, enthusiastic greetings to you)

2007-02-21T03:47:00.000-08:00

On Sunday 18th February, Jozi7degrees celebrated the Chinese New Year – The Year of the Pig at the Nanhua Buddhist Temple in Bronkhorstspruit.

Those that dared wore red as- according to Chinese Tradition- red scares away evil spirits and bad fortune!

We enjoyed the famous traditional dragon and lion dance, and performances of Chinese Kung Fu and the Chinese Kuan Yin dance. Sampling the unusual yet delicious Chinese vegetarian foods was a treat! Some of us even rang the Happiness Bell which promises good luck for the New Year.

Check out the photo's here.

恭喜發財 or "Congratulations and be prosperous"

It's hot STOP drinks STOP at Full Stop STOP

2007-02-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

We ushered in the New Year in true Jozi7degrees style. What fun! 50 trendy people met in Parkhurst for evening drinks. Some had tequila, some had none, but everybody had fun. The last of the trendoids were kicked out past midnight!

We also did our bit. We collected 2 bags of toiletries which we donated to Strathyre Girls Home in Kensington. FULL STOP. What fun!

Check out the photos here

Contact us

2007-01-28T08:56:00.000-08:00

You can contact us on our jozi7degrees at gmail dot com address! or call Telana on 083 730 2979

Thanks!

Alix, Megan, Tracey, Melissa and Telana