Waltham Forest THUSO in South Africa

Thuso in South Africa has been sending parcels of baby and young people’s clothing, books, toys, soaps, pencils etc to Azwikundi Aids Co-op near Pretoria who are currenty supporting 30+ orphans. On October 9th, Children’s Day in South Africa, the parcels were handed out to the children at the Kopano Ke Maatla Home Based Care Centre. Kopana was set up in 1999 to provide home based care for orphans, the elderly and HIV/AIDS patients.

The local press were invited to cover the day and published an excellent write up and pictures of the event.

Some of the patients produce hand-crafted jewellery for fundraising purposes and our Chair Mmapula Tladi-Small has brought back a selection for us to sell on our stall and at the Garden Party on 17th July.

Above is a photo of some of the staff and also the children with parcels that they received.

As a result of the school’s outstanding academic performances last year a top performing South African car sales company, SMD, has given a minibus to the school. The company will handle upkeep and repairs of the minibus.

We are told SMD were also impressed with the connection the school has in the UK with our charity “Thuso in South Africa” (having seen our website) and the school insists that Thuso has played a large role in helping students to achieve such good results with our fee sponsorships of 50 learners and contributions to the lunchtime feeding scheme.

It is with very great regret and sadness that we announce the death, following a short stay in hospital, of one of Waltham Forest Thuso in South Africa’s Trustees – Madge Bergman.

Madge was one of the original Waltham Forest A.C.T.S.A. (Action for South Africa) members before we became the registered charity “Thuso”. Despite a number of health problems and family bereavements in her last few years she remained committed to “Thuso” and her work with local trainee G.Ps.

Born into a large family in Liverpool, Madge left home by herself at 15 for a six month stay in Italy! She then went on to train as a teacher and social worker. She lived in Walthamstow and became chair of the Greenleaf School PTA, was a Woodcraft Folk leader and was active on the Priory Court estate working with the Tenants Association.

She then moved to Deal in Kent where she worked as a social worker and  set up a women’s refuge.

On the death of her partner, John, Madge returned to Walthamstow to be near some of her family and also her dearest friend, Jean Croxton, whom she tirelessly nursed until the latter’s untimely death. She was  heavily involved in health monitoring locally and was Chair of PPI, (the Patient and Public Involvement Forum), a project that launched Waltham forest LINK, (Local Involvement Network). She represented LINK on the Waltham Forest Primary Care Trust board, a clinical governance group, and was a driving force on the LINK report on neurological services which made many recommendations for improvement.

In her spare time (!) Madge was involved with the News from Nowhere club and also with the Pyramid Trust which worked to increase young children’s confidence in learning.

She leaves three children, Carmela, Jonathan, and Daniel and four grandchildren. Madge was a lively and extrovert person who will be greatly missed and remembered by many people with great affection as a good friend and a dedicated champion for improving life and services in Waltham Forest.

DONATION FOR MADGE