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The dual themes for the Winter 2007 issue of
Find Your Voice were to be “transformation” and
“empowerment”. I began collecting articles and
information for the issue, when my office (and
work life) was transformed and someone completely
unknown to me became empowered through stealing
my computer out of my office. Yip, my three month
old Pentium 5, bought after a process of careful
budgeting and with funding from generous donors,
was carefully disconnected and removed from my
office.
It has been a nightmare, a loss of surprisingly
large proportions, and a really difficult and
time-consuming process of piecing everything back
together again. Our insurance covered around half
of the replacement cost, so I now have a replacement
computer, completely devoid of any information!
I have asked people to re-email documents back
to me, I am squirreling away as many email addresses
as I can (fortunately for the most part I had
printed out many of my contact lists), and I am
carefully ensuring that my office is locked as
soon as I walk away from it. It is not in my nature
to live like this, so it is a difficult learning
curve for me.
I will no doubt have lost a number of newcomers
to my Find Your Voice database, so if this newsletter
is something that you receive regularly in your
inbox, and you are only managing to read it on
our website, please re-register to receive it
via email. I apologise for passing the inconvenience
on to you, but thank you for understanding and
for being patient. Find Your Voice is also much
later than I had planned for it to be, and winter
is just about past! (I wish.)
So, back to the themes of transformation and
empowerment, as originally intended! When we reflect
on the work of LifeLine/Childline Western Cape,
everything we do revolves around transformation
and empowerment. People come to us at times of
crisis, trauma or in a place where they desire
personal growth. Through interacting with a counsellor,
a social worker or a training course facilitator,
very few people leave our centres without feeling
transformed and, we hope, empowered, in some way.
Our person-centred approach lends itself to that.
In this issue of Find Your Voice, we look at
a couple of partnership projects in which we are
involved. We look at our relationship with the
local tabloid, The Daily Voice, and share something
of our vision of working with a paper that reaches
more readers in the Western Cape than any other
newspaper. We look at our relationship with advertising
agency, Joe Public, and how this work makes a
difference in the lives of the agency staff who
work on the account.
We also take a closer look at the work that we
do at some of our centres,
namely Khayelitsha and the Youth Development department.
and please send
any comments, suggestions or articles of interest
or feedback to me at info@lifelinewc.org.za
So, whatever is on your mind during this quarter
of the year, feel free to call us. And until Spring
2007 beckons, go well, keep safe and keep talking.
We’re listening.
Warm regards
Ruth Martin
Remember that whatever
is on your mind and needing to be spoken about,
call LifeLine. We’re hear to listen, any time
of night or day. Call LifeLine on 021 461 1111
or Childline on 08000 55 555
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| LifeLine/Childline
Western Cape was established in Cape Town in 1968
and has, since then, been providing ongoing telephone
counselling, offering immediacy and an intimate
means of communication to those needing to talk.
The need for an organisation committed to the prevention
of child abuse became increasingly apparent and
in 1995 Childline became a division of LifeLine
Western Cape. On average, the crisis lines receive
around 4,500 calls per month. With offices in
Cape Town, Wynberg, Khayelitsha, Guguletu, Bishop
Lavis, Mitchell’s Plain and now in Athlone, LifeLine/Childline
Western Cape has grown considerably and now employs
113 members of staff. The majority of the organisation's
staff members work in the area of HIV/AIDS counselling
in the clinics and day hospitals around the greater
Cape Town area.
Cape Town office:
021 461 1113
Bishop Lavis office:
021 934 3027
Guguletu office: 021
637 2649
Khayelitsha office:
021 361 9197
Mitchell’s Plain office:
021 372 5591
Wynberg (Childline) office:
021 762 8198
Athlone (youth development)
office: 021 638 0913
If you need to talk, for whatever reason, we’re
here. Call 021 461 1111 or 0861 322 322 (LifeLine)
or 021 461 1114 or 08000 55 555 (Childline) at
any time of day or night, for anonymous, confidential
counselling.
LifeLine/Childline Western Cape
56 Roeland Street, Cape Town 8001
Tel: +27 21 461 1113
Fax: +27 21 461 6400
Email: info@lifelinewc.org.za
Website: www.lifelinewc.org.za
002-837 NPO
Section 18A/PBO Status : 18/11/13/1085 |
