February 2023

Out of a growing awareness for greater contingency, sustainability and expansion, NOAH reviewed its staff organogram as part of the 2021 annual review.

Believing in the tenets and benefits of shared leadership, a process of change management was agreed. The aim was to create a structure that is efficient, increases the sustainability focus and allows for ongoing innovation and expansion.

The process was completed end November 2022 and the NOAH Management Board was thrilled to appoint Jane Mills as Director from 1 March 2023. Jane currently heads up NOAH’s social enterprises.

After 13 years as Director, Anne Dobson, will step into the role of Deputy Director with a predominant focus on sustainability.

The process has been very positive and we believe that by re-organising internally it offers a great opportunity to create an enabling environment for sustainability and growth whilst also minimising additional cost.

For any further clarification or information required regarding the change, please contact Anne: anne@noah.org.za

There is a new season starting at NOAH. I am thrilled to hand over the Directorship to Jane Mills who is perfectly positioned, skilled and ready to take NOAH to new heights!

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity of being entrusted with the NOAH stewardship for 13 years. My profound thanks goes to the Board and staff for all the support, expertise and guidance over the years.

We believe that this is an important, exciting and progressive move for NOAH.

Wishing you every success and enjoyment in your new position, Jane.

– Anne Dobson, Director

Age: Ron Groenmeyer, 76

How did you arrive at the BIB concept?:

When I first arrived at NOAH I realised people at NOAH needed assistance with making it through the month and was concerned at how many people were skipping meals and relying on friends and family to make it through the month.

There was a gap!

After our ABCD workshop I produced the idea of the BIB project and designed a project where NOAH could leverage its ability to get food at discounted prices and pass this on to the members.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

I worked in property, finance, and bank-ing before arriving at NOAH.
I am the devoted father of three chil-dren with whom I have very close relationships and I am married to my lovely wife, Jenny. I love to work with people and support them to use their God given talents.

What advice would you give to other NOAH members?

Retire from your job. Don’t retire from your life! Get involved and keep busy!

What do you do in your free time?

I enjoy gardening and classical music. I keep fit by walking.

What is your dream for BIB?

That everybody gets involved and everyone benefits from it. I cannot wait for the launch in February 2023. Watch this space and keep an eye on our social media platforms for updates.

We have prioritised the need for sustainability – for our elders and for NOAH. Recognising the competition for donated funding, the board and staff of NOAH resolved 13 years ago to self-generate 25% of its annual income needs by end 2023. One of the ways to do this is through the expansion of our social enterprises.

The most lucrative initiative is Selling Seconds, a second hand shop in Woodstock started in 2009, and which sells donated clothing, furniture and bric-a-brac. The shop has met a local need and the goods are in demand. Given the high regard the public has for NOAH, there is a constant supply of stock. But, we have run out of space …

A second initiative is Jou Ma Se Kos, a Woodstock-based takeaway and catering business which currently operates from the converted stoep of one of NOAH’s inde-pendent homes. It also doubles as a soup kitchen for the homeless in winter. It is run by a team of 6 NOAH residents. The team is self-managed, holding weekly meetings to discuss takings, stock, stipends, the dish of the day, specials, pricing, etc. But, we have run out of space here too …

Plus, NOAH’s recently started Home Industry project is producing some tasty local delights and needs an outlet for the jams, heritage foods, organic herbs and vege-tables, delicious bread, etc.

Fortuitously, the run-down corner shop at the end of NOAH’s block came on the market and NOAH’s offer to purchase was accepted.

The old shop, a heritage building, that was once a central meeting point, a place of fun and safety for children and a supplier of daily provisions, had sadly become a den of iniquity and a threat to safety in the area.

The renovation of the property to its old, dignified self is well underway. The new roof is on and the building protected. The completed project will enable the expansion of both social enterprises, drive real urban renewal, restoring the corner shop to its former glory and purpose, improving the safety of the area and providing a much-needed service. It will also ensure the creation of jobs, increased turnover for the 2 businesses and the opportunity for additional NOAH beneficiaries to benefit directly.

As has been demonstrated in the 42 years of NOAH’s service to elders in greater Cape Town, our dreams are realised with the support of our donors. This dream, the successful renovation of the corner shop is also becoming a reality with this generous support.

NOAH is about supporting elders but, more than that, it is about them harnessing their wisdom, skills and experience in order to make a critical contribution in the upliftment of local communities. Your contribution will restore a heritage building, substantially assist in our support of social pensioners and the local community, and contribute to NOAH’s future sustainability.

According to Cormac Russell a com-munity is a group of related people that are also related to the place that they are in, in some shape or form, are creating a culture together that will prevail beyond them and have some way of making exchange happen. This is exactly what NOAH is with regards to the residents in the different houses.

The residents of each house either reported to a steering committee, made up of volunteers, especially at the houses not in the Woodstock area, or the residents reported directly to the Housing Manager, situated at the head office in Woodstock. This needs based model which was used till 2022 has proven ineffective in so far as the focus was on the NOAH rules and left some residents feeling disempowered, dismissed and not in control of their own lives. This countered the aim of NOAH which is independent living for residents. Independent means that they can make decisions about their own lives and ideally, healthy and wise decisions.

As the contract social worker at Noah and in my practice as a trauma-informed and safe circle facilitator, I suggested to the director that we initiate the safe circle concept at NOAH as a method to move the houses from a rule-oriented culture with constant discord, to a culture of relational understanding and safe connections.

This was a strange concept to the residents at first. Initially, 60% of the residents used the rules at NOAH against one another and would then complain to the housing manager about another resident breaking the rules. So conflict was never addressed relationally. I have realised that some residents had never learnt to share their feelings, in a safe environment and that people do not need to live in discord, chaos, and even with an element of violence. Instead, all they knew was chaos and “how to get rid of the problem”, without repairing connections with their fellow residents.

At first, the residents could not understand that the safe circles would be done monthly because, to them, a circle was only needed if there was serious “issues” in the house which the housing manager could not resolve. As 2022 progressed, they slowly started to adjust to the monthly circles and the topics which would be discussed, such as ‘What is it to live from a wholehearted place?’, ‘What makes a NOAH house work?’. In the latter part of 2022 I could see that residents start to look forward to circles as, for the first time, they could share their feelings, without the fear of their feelings being used against them. They also started to feel a sense of ownership again, a sense of agency and realise that they do have the capacity to engage with each other, listen and sort out differences in an amicable way. They also learnt that conflict is NORMAL and that the answer in life lies in the repair.

In circles we learn to listen our way back to one another. We listen more and speak less. We listen to understand. We do not listen to react or attack. We listen to hear and see one another’s soul and in that way we find a way to live together with understanding, compassion and repair. 70% of relationships world wide are not in sync but the answer lies in the repair.

The circles teach the residents to use the art of listening to each other’s story and ‘once I know your story, I know how to respond.’

Mrs Ntombizandile Fumanisa, age: 66, has been a member of the NOAH Khayelitsha Centre for over 10 years. She has been happily married for 34 years with 3 children.

Mrs Fumanisa is such an asset to the Khayeltisha Centre – baking bread for the day is what she enjoys. Her responsibilities at the Centre include the following: Opening the Centre in the morning, food storage, supplying food items to the those who are responsible for cooking on the day etc. She even tidies up the Centre for the next day! It is great to have our elders taking ownership and responsibility for their space.

I am Veronica Ho Chung. Been living at NOAH for one year and was residing at Ida Burgers in Elsiesriver. I started the project by collecting used tyres, painting and filling it with soil. Also collected succulents and planted it in the tyres. MY “VET PLANTJIE PROJECT”.

In September 2020, I had the immense pleasure of taking on the Administrator role at NOAH.

At the time we had 5 residents acting as reception-ists. After a period of assessments, I recognised the potential of the reception office.

So, I worked on a development plan.

Recognising the potential for development, I started slowly with training of the correct telephone etiquette, use of the flash machine, card payment machine and managing emails.

Six months after training started we moved on in the development process to Excel and Word training.

After 2 years of development we have a team of receptionists who are responsible for different duties.

Cecil Barendse – works on the capturing and bal-ancing of the Flash income as well as the capturing of the vehicle log sheets.

Lettie De Lesce – captures the electronic NOAH waiting list as well as keeping all the contact lists up to date. This includes, other older persons organisa-tions, suppliers, staff and residents telephone lists.

Noella Marryatt – only started at reception in May 2022 and is still training in all aspects.

Valda Prince – moved from being receptionist to being Admin support for Finance Admin as well as SED admin.

Charmaine Roman joined the team in September 2022 and is the relief receptionist.

The Admin team of Cecil, Lettie and Valda is invaluable.

The Admin/reception team works together like a well-oiled machine, as administrator of NOAH and I am beyond proud of the development of our residents.

They take pride in what they have accomplished and is always open to learning more.

‘The best feeling for me is that I can confidently take a day off and know that the wheels won’t come off because the Administrator is not there’.

We are proud to be collaborating with Spur Corporation in the next few months. The Hussar Grill, Spur Corporation’s premier grill room brand, will be supporting NOAH by creating specially branded bags that will be displayed in their restaurants for customers to fill with their pre-loved clothing and shoes – providing us with more quality goods for our Selling Seconds stores.
These NOAH branded bags will be in all The Hussar Grill restaurants across the country, serving as daily reminders and we couldn’t be more thankful!