An Elegant Evening

The night of 28 August 2010 finally arrived! And what a night it was! We promised our guests an ‘elegant evening of entertainment and dancing’ and that is exactly what we delivered. Our guests were welcomed personally by the Stepper whom they decided to support. They had a welcome drink before they made their way through to the main hall.

The main hall…well, let me start off by first expressing our sincere thanks to the teachers at the Arthur Murray Studio who took on the responsibility of decorating the main hall. It looked stunning! We loved the fairy lights and found the white draping light and fresh...just what we need at the end of our grey winter! The Steppers were busy all day preparing the tables and chairs. Gosh! The work that goes into ‘dressing’ those tables! The décor was beautiful!

Our very witty and accomplished MC, Rhondene, made sure that everyone was comfortable. Even though it was a black-tie event, it is important that people enjoy themselves. The whole evening can be described as warm and welcoming. This can be attributed to our MC and the fact that our guests were our family, friends and colleagues; all people who want to support us in this endeavour and who believe that it is a worthwhile cause.

The entertainment started off with the ladies from Stepping out of the Box doing their dancing routine from the musical ‘Chicago’. We are not professional dancers, but we do love dancing and this is us doing something which puts us out of our comfort zones. This is where the whole concept of Stepping out of the Box started and, even after countless rehearsals, it was still nerve-wrecking! But this IS us stepping out!

This was followed by a dance exhibition by the Arthur Murray teachers, Mr Hoskin and Ms Kirk. And, if you love dancing, you have to appreciate the work, talent, the creativity and the precision that goes into the choreography and execution of a dance. They were impressive! (Something to work towards Steppers!)

Next we had the band ‘Can’. Candice and Denzil Thorne and their Ensemble presented us with three songs. One can only be in awe of Candice’s voice. What amazing talent. Of course she was accompanied by equally talented musicians. Wish we could have had more!

Ultimately though, people evaluate the success of an event like this on the food and the music. As far as the food is concerned, our compliments go to Mrs Arendse, the caterer, and her team. They have to be compliment for the wonderful service they provided. Everything went so smoothly and effortlessly. And more importantly, great food! And such generous servings!

And would it be cliché to say that the DJ was on fire? Wow! Just when you think you’ve had enough and you cannot possibly continue dancing because your feet are killing you, then there is another song which you cannot possibly sit out on! F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.

As was mentioned at the event, it took a whole community of people to make this event happen and to make this a success. We are sincerely grateful to everyone who contributed in any and every way. We are especially grateful to those who came out on Saturday. That clinched the deal and we are able to confidently say that the evening was a huge success. Thank you, All!

We hope to continue to support the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children through other fund-raising events. Please check out our website, http://www.steppingoutofthebox.org/, to see what’s happening. We are looking forward to seeing you again!

40 days to go!!!

Hello All!!

Only 40 days left before our big event on 28 August...the pressure is on!! If you would like to attend, the tickets are priced at R250 per ticket. But, if you are not able to buy a ticket, you can also make a small donation (from R10 to as much a you can afford). You can deposit it into the fundraising account which is:
Stepping out of the Box
Nedbank Plumstead
Branch code :119409
Acc :21940 19006

Our target is to raise at least R50,000 for the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children and we are confident that we can do it with your help. However, we have also asked the Centre what other needs they have (see www.saartjiebaartmancentre.org.za for more information on the really important role they play in the community). They have indicated the following wish list that would really make a difference to the lives of the women and children at the Centre:

For the women in the Shelter and Second Stage Houses:
bedding, clothing, curtains, furniture, non-perishable food, small appliances, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels.
For the children in the Shelter:
baby formula, books, clothing, crayons, educational toys, koki pens, nappies, paper, pencils.

We are asking people to drop all in-kind donations at our offices in 49 Roodebloem Road, Woodstock or contact Zubaida (021 4476740) to come and collect.

Please partner with us in achieving this goal as the safety and security of women and children is all of our concern.

Regards!

Time out in St Helena Bay

Of course it can't be all work and no play. We also need some time out and time to bond! Here are some pics taken when we visited the West Coast in April.

Would you like to support us?

If you would like to support the centre by giving a donation, the banking details as well as contact details for the centre are as follows:

SUPPORT FOR ‘STEPPING OUT OF THE BOX’
To whom it may concern

The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children really appreciates the fund-raising event that the group ‘Stepping out of the box’ wishes to hold for the Centre on 28 August 2010. We are very happy to endorse their event.
Our banking details are as follows:
Account holder: The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children
Bank: FNB
Branch: Rondebosch
Branch code: 201509
Account: 62028179415
Type of account: Current
Please feel free to contact me for any further information about the Centre.

Synnøv Skorge
Director

25 May 2010

Website: saartjiebaartmancentre.org.za
Telephone: +27 21 633 5287
Fax: +27 21 637 3487

Stepping out of the Box

Form left to right: Colleen; Elmarie; Nicolette; Charmaine;Francis and Shamillah

Introduction

Stepping out of the Box is not a club or an organisation, nor is it a registered NGO or a charity. We are a group of ordinary women who were initially drawn to each other because of a love for dancing. As we spent more time together, we discovered that we have a lot more than dancing in common. We are all independent, intelligent, accomplished, single women who have lived our lives differently.

The idea of ‘Stepping out of the Box’ came about in a conversation we had at the start of the New Year. Reluctant to make resolutions, which most people inevitably forget about as the year progresses, we committed to really make 2010 an exciting year. However, we knew that, if we wanted an exciting 2010, we would have to do things differently. This would require that we commit ourselves to bringing about change in our own lives and that we would have to do this by stepping out of our comfort zone. We then decided that, individually and as a group, we would commit ourselves to doing something every month, as an individual. It could be something that we have always wanted to do or thought about doing, but never had the courage or time or readiness to actually do it. We would be accountable to each other by meeting on a monthly basis and reporting on our progress. This is also where we would decide on a group goal.

The premise is that it is easy and safe to stay within the confines of the boundaries or limitations we create for ourselves, but growth, development and/or change will not take place in a static situation. We would only be able to make 2010 an exciting year if we test the boundaries and limitations we set up ourselves. To quote Sir Isaac Newton, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” There are no limits to our abilities or to what we can achieve; we limit ourselves, mostly out of fear.

We accomplished our first challenge as a group when we performed a dance routine to a song from the hit musical “Chicago” in front of an audience. After weeks of practicing, anxiety about our ability to remember the routine and agreements and disagreements about the wardrobe, we very bravely put ourselves out there. This was an amazing bonding experience, but more than that, it confirmed that we were on the right track. We felt a great sense of accomplishment and the experience was definitely a confidence booster. We now knew that we are able to do and achieve much more than we think we can. And with that in mind we set out on planning something even bigger as a group goal, and that is to plan a charity event. And this brings us to the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children.

Because of this process that we are engaging in, we know that we have the ability and the skills to be able successfully plan and organise a charity event. We have not done anything like this before and, individually, we may never even have thought about it. But now, by tapping in on our collective strengths, we can do something for ourselves and at the same time also contribute to our community. We can extend on what we have learnt and experienced by helping other women and sharing our experience with them.

Therefore, our next challenge as a group is a fund-raising event, the proceeds of which will go to the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children. We deliberately decided to host this event on 28 August 2010. It is an event organised by women for women in the month of August when the focus is on women’s issues.

This shelter is doing amazing work to assist women in becoming strong and independent, and giving them the skills to overcome the hardship they had to endure. You can read more about this centre at the following address:
www.saartjiebaartmancentre.org.za

We would like to appeal to you, especially the ladies, to help us accomplish our goal and contribute to making this event a success. We are looking to hearing from you.