We were promised our Johannesburg School for Blind Low Vision and Multiple Disability building (Beka) building in perpetuity in 2002 and successfully ran a school there for 21 years. Despite us building a R70,000 palisade perimeter fence and four gates, conversion of the garage into a library, construction of an ablution block, construction of a brick-edged sandpit, tens of thousands of rands worth of spray-on safety matting, a wheelchair ramp, a tiled and granite-countered twice-refurbished kitchen, installation of new geysers at our cost, of disabled toilets, installation of a fire door, smoke alarms, significant electrical rewiring and replumbing, re-flooring and more, the building was sold without our agreement. Former trustee Ms MG Hirsch et al gained unjustified enrichment of at least R350,000 which should have been reimbursed to the Trust which ran the school. We would like pro bono legal assistance in this matter, please.
The Chinese lunar Year of the Fire Horse runs until 7 February 2027. The Horse is associated with energy, independence, and freedom.
We will need all the positive qualities of the Chinese festival to tackle a tough year, where several human rights issues will come to court in South Africa. The case of Attempted Murder of our Founder on 26 April 2025 will be heard in the second half of the 2026. The sexual abuse in a Gauteng squatter camp of a young girl (allegedly by a man whom she knew) who is also a burns survivor, may finally reach court. And that child's permanent placement through adoption might also be decided. A further case of Attempted Murder by burning of one of our teenagers when he was only 11 years old, will hopefully also be heard. Court cases are re-traumatising and draining. One in three severe burns are intentional so we have been exposed to terrifying violence directly and indirectly for the past 30 years. Please contemplate how hard that is to handle, especially where there is no justice.
2026 the Year to Prepare!
No Mountain too High. In the past our brave burned children have climbed Africa's volcanoes: Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Cameroon. The purpose was to show them that regardless of disfigurement or disability, there is no challenge that they cannot try to overcome. In July 2026 burns survivors, led by Fernando da Cunha, aged 11 to 18 will hike in the Drakensburg Mountains in mid-Winter, sleeping in a cave. The best of the best will fly to climb the 4377metres high (14,360 feet) Tulu Dimto, in Ethiopia in 2027. Would-be participants recommended by their surgeons, occupational therapists, teachers, families, will engage in abseiling, hiking, horse riding, swimming, geography and history lessons to understand Ethiopia's amazing place within the African continent. They'll get vaccinated, they'll get documented, they'll show the world what Superheroes they are. We are looking for a media partner to document this amazing feat and for companies to sponsor the climber preparations and the climb itself.
Chishamiso has long been our dream. A sub-Saharan paediatric burns hospital. A Place of Miracles where everyone from the gardener to the CEO will be there because they want to be part of a Place of Healing, where the Pursuit of Excellence shapes all that we do. We have the theoretical promise of 50,000 hectares to build the hospital that would start small and expand incrementally. We'd need to build two operating theatres, two wards, the doctors' village, the primary school, the restaurant that will serve staff, volunteers and outside guests, the Keloid Research Centre. But first we need Architects to apply their minds and their drawing skills, for the greater good. A picture is worth a thousand words and once the medical fraternity, the general public, the financiers and the politicians understand the purpose, the rest will flow. Can you Draw a Miracle? Come for coffee in Auckland Park, in Castletown, northern Scotland, possibly in London, possibly in Buenos Aires, maybe in Addis Ababa, and let's Move This Forward, for Africa is still burning and we need to ease its pain.
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