Miss-Delectable
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Daily Dispatch Online
THE vuvuzela made a bit of a comeback at the Joan Harrison swimming Complex in East London yesterday when 25 swimmers participated in an 18km relay for charity.
The event was hosted by Michael Swartz, a deaf swimmer, and it brought awareness about the plight of the deaf in society, as well as integrating the deaf and the hearing.
The relay swim was also used to raise funds for Linda Mbewana, a 19-year-old from Scenery Park, who spends her days helping the deaf in her community. It was also Swartz’s 18th birthday.
A co-ed schools’ polo tournament hosted by Stirling High School attracted most of the crowd. Nevertheless, the relay swimmers received a big cheer from the spectators. The deaf community from Scenery Park were also there to add their support.
The 25 swimmers, divided into teams of five including both hearing and deaf, took part in the 18km relay while the crowd cheered on and waved posters. The posters read: “We will Not Be Silenced.”
The relay took one hour 39 minutes to complete and about R400 was raised.
“It was good fun, especially for the deaf people from Scenery Park as they always felt excluded from the rest of the world,” Mbewana said.
“This event has proved to them that they are part of the community, too. It makes me feel good to see them happy,” she added.
The Dispatch was made aware of Mbewana’s assistance of the deaf at a civic meeting in Scenery Park last month where she said she was helping 32 deaf people in her community by translating for them at meetings. In a follow up article, the Dispatch wrote about how the pupil took it upon herself to attend community meetings to translate and to make her community understand the issues affecting deaf people.
Swartz, who read the article, made a pledge to promote awareness of the deaf and raise money to help Mbewana by organising the charity relay swim.
Yannick Claesen, who took a bus from Johannesburg to take part in the swim, said the event was important to him to attend as he was also deaf. “As much as Michael is my friend and I wanted to celebrate his birthday with him, I felt that I had a role to play to make people aware of deaf people. I hope to see people integrating more like we did,” said the teenager.
Swartz’s mother, Sandy Swartz, was equally pleased. “It was a good learning experience for many of the people that came. And I’m proud that Michael and Linda are making a big difference in a small way,” she said.
THE vuvuzela made a bit of a comeback at the Joan Harrison swimming Complex in East London yesterday when 25 swimmers participated in an 18km relay for charity.
The event was hosted by Michael Swartz, a deaf swimmer, and it brought awareness about the plight of the deaf in society, as well as integrating the deaf and the hearing.
The relay swim was also used to raise funds for Linda Mbewana, a 19-year-old from Scenery Park, who spends her days helping the deaf in her community. It was also Swartz’s 18th birthday.
A co-ed schools’ polo tournament hosted by Stirling High School attracted most of the crowd. Nevertheless, the relay swimmers received a big cheer from the spectators. The deaf community from Scenery Park were also there to add their support.
The 25 swimmers, divided into teams of five including both hearing and deaf, took part in the 18km relay while the crowd cheered on and waved posters. The posters read: “We will Not Be Silenced.”
The relay took one hour 39 minutes to complete and about R400 was raised.
“It was good fun, especially for the deaf people from Scenery Park as they always felt excluded from the rest of the world,” Mbewana said.
“This event has proved to them that they are part of the community, too. It makes me feel good to see them happy,” she added.
The Dispatch was made aware of Mbewana’s assistance of the deaf at a civic meeting in Scenery Park last month where she said she was helping 32 deaf people in her community by translating for them at meetings. In a follow up article, the Dispatch wrote about how the pupil took it upon herself to attend community meetings to translate and to make her community understand the issues affecting deaf people.
Swartz, who read the article, made a pledge to promote awareness of the deaf and raise money to help Mbewana by organising the charity relay swim.
Yannick Claesen, who took a bus from Johannesburg to take part in the swim, said the event was important to him to attend as he was also deaf. “As much as Michael is my friend and I wanted to celebrate his birthday with him, I felt that I had a role to play to make people aware of deaf people. I hope to see people integrating more like we did,” said the teenager.
Swartz’s mother, Sandy Swartz, was equally pleased. “It was a good learning experience for many of the people that came. And I’m proud that Michael and Linda are making a big difference in a small way,” she said.