4 TYGERBURGER Eersterivier & BlueDowns
Shoebox project expands
T
argeting 100 000 gift boxes this year, the Santa Shoebox Project began yesterday (1 September). Over the past nine years, this inspiring non-profit organisation has collected 456 004 Santa Shoeboxes for vulnerable children. The gift boxes are sent to a thousand orphanages, children’s homes and care centres across the country, and as far as Namibia, in time to put a smile on young faces over the festive season. The Santa Shoebox Project offers people the chance to participate in a profoundly valuable and personal experience that enriches the lives of givers and receivers. The goal is to take “giving for good” beyond the boundaries of the shoebox drive, aiming to make positive changes in the lives of these children “for good”. This includes projects such as a Virtual Box on-line shopping option, managed by Pick n Pay, which will provide an opportunity for individuals outside of the main centres to also participate, and for corporates to get involved in sponsoring Santa Shoeboxes in larger quantities. One can register online at www.santashoebox.org.za. Donors may choose the name of a child or children they’d like to give their Santa Shoebox(es) to. Age appropriate gift boxes then have to be filled according to the guidelines provided on the website. V Visit www.santashoebox.org.za or email in fo@santashoebox.co.za with enquiries.
NUUS
Woensdag, 2 September 2015
Sjef Miguel leef sy droom V
ir meeste sjefs wat by die Eersteriviergemeenskapsprojek Community Women Action (CWA) se deure aanklop, is die lewe ’n moeilike, soms bitter verhaal. Vir een van die meer jonger sjefs hier, Miguel Zachary Brett, is die storie nie veel anders nie. Miguel is grootgemaak deur sy enkelouerma. “ ’n Pa-figuur was daar nie en ek moes alles geleer het by my ma. “Dit is waar my liefde vir kook vandaan kom. Ek was nie die soetste seun nie, maar vandag maak ek my moeder trots op die persoon wie ek is en die lewe wat ek gekies het,” vertel hy. Op hoërskool het hy besluit dat hy graag eendag ’n sjef wil word. Ná skool het hy by verskeie plekke gewerk om ’n geldjie te verdien. Sy lewe het ook in dié stadium begin agteruitgaan vanweë die verkeerde vriendekring waarin hy rondbeweeg het. “Einde 2011 het ek by my sinne gekom en vir myself gesê genoeg is genoeg.” Miguel het vir Census, sowel as die mediese navorsingsraad, begin werk, maar vroeg besef dat dít nie vir hom bedoel is nie. “Maar ek het uitgehou, want ek het die geld nodig gehad.” Hy het inligting ontvang oor die gemeenskapsorganisasie CWA en die werk wat hulle doen. “Ek het vorms begin invul en in my gedagtes vir God gevra, ‘asseblief Here laat ek inkom’. “ ’n Week ná my aansoek ingestuur is, het die CWA my laat weet dat ek aanvaar is.” Miguel is ná sy toelating as assistent-sjef opgelei. “Die organisasie is in die Eersterivier geleë en ek woon in die Strand. Ek was in ’n geldelike krisis en het baie dae nie ’n blou sent gehad nie. Ek moes ‘trein steel’ om by die klas uit te kom.” Daar was selfs dae wat hy van die huis af
Die sjef Miguel Zachary Brett (regs) is hier saam met sy medestudentsjef, Shane Christians, by die CWAgemeenskapsorganisasie in Devon Park, Eersterivier. moes stap. “My bene en voete wou baie kere ingee, maar ek het uitgehou.” Miguel het egter ná die voltooiing van sy kursus nog ’n maand by die organisasie aangebly en vrywillig uitgehelp. “Dit was uit dankbaarheid aan die CWA, wat my die geleentheid gegee het om ’n verandering in my lewe te maak,” sê Miguel. Ná sy kursus is hy by die spoghotel Lord
Charles in Somerset-Wes aanvaar, ’n wit baadjie gegee en het hy agter die stoof ingeval. Miguel werk nou aan sy diploma-kwalifikasie. “Ek geniet elke oomblik,” sê hy. “As ’n sjef by die Lord Charles-hotel is ek trots op myself oor waar ek vandag is. Wanneer ek my geregte voorberei, dan voel ek trots vir wat ek lewer. My hande staan vir niks stil nie,” voeg Miguel by.
From Bridgetown to Bioinformatics Prof Another award is in line for a professor at the University of the Western Cape. Professor Alan Christoffels, who is the Director of the South African Bioinformatics Institute and the National SARChi Chair in Bioinformatics and Public Health Genomics, has already received three national and international awards this year. Last week he received his fourth award, the National Research Council Hamilton-Naki Award from the South African National Research Foundation in recognition of his role in transforming science through cutting edge research and capacity building. Born in Kensington and growing up in Bridgetown, Athlone, the 44-year-old is flying the South African flag high with the Medical Research Council Silver Medal, HUGO-Africa Prize International award, and a Fulbright Fellowship for six months in Boston, USA, Professor Alan which he plans to take up in February 2016. In Boston he plans to work on tuberculosis genomes. Christoffels, a first generation university graduate in his family, holds a PhD in Bioinformatics from UWC and completed a threeyear postdoctoral study in Singapore in the laboratory of Dr Byrappa Venkatesh and Nobel Laureate Dr Sydney Brenner. He established a research lab at Temasek LifeSciences Laboratories (TLL) in Singapore before returning to South Africa. In 2009 he was appointed the Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation Research Chair in Bioinformatics and Public Health Genomics. Since then he has coordinated genomics training on the African continent for the World Health Organisation- tropical dis-
ease research programme - the Glossina Functional Genomics Network (GFGN) as part of the International Glossina Genome Initiative. Over the past four years, the team has been predicting new drug targets for tuberculosis and predicting the effect of DNA modifications on the ability of a patient to metabolise TB drugs. Christoffels and his team were awarded a MRC flagship award in 2013 to undertake research focussing on developing methods that include the identification of new tuberculosis drug targets. This work has culminated in the funding of a multi-disciplinary research team comprising researchers at the Universities of Benin, KwaZulu Natal, Stellenbosch, Cape Town and Western Cape. For the past six years Christoffels was a co-principal investigator on a multidisciplinary PEPFAR project funded by the CenChristoffels tre for Disease and Control, USA to the value of $70,000 per year. His team was funded to develop an innovative “How to be a health activist” tuberculosis intervention for schools. In collaboration with education partners and eight pilot schools from historically disadvantaged communities, they developed a resource in English and Afrikaans comprising a book for learners, an accompanying teachers guide, an interactive DVD and an interactive website (www.skill4life.org). Christoffels says: “Connecting bio-resources from Africa and Europe and providing adequate technology will revolutionise how we perform research. “The easy-to-use technical solutions will allow the participation of research from different regions regardless of their level development and networking capabilities.”