SUMMER - JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH 2019
ROAD TRIPPING
CRE8TIVE
FAMILY-STYLE
THINKING SKILLS
HIGH FLYERS
CHASING THE DREAM
2018 Matric Top Achievers
VISION BOARDS FOR KIDS
Every child a masterpiece | 1 PLUS: ARE YOU BURNT OUT? • KIDS’ PARTY VENUES
#100reasons
TO STUDY AT VEGA
Enrol for a World-class IIE Degree
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ve g a s chool. com Vega is an educational brand of The Independent Institute of Education (Pty) Ltd which is registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training as a private higher education institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997 (reg. no. 2007/HE07/002). Company registration number: 1987/004754/07
2 | Crawford Times
BRAND COMMUNICATION
BRAND MANAGEMENT
CONTENTS 05 | Spotlight News 10 | Matric Results 25 | The Taste Bud Battle 30 | Power of the Principals
35 | PARENT POINT 36 | Free to Succeed 40 | What are Creative Thinking skills? 44 | Health: Burn Out 60 | KIDS CORNER
46 | Dream Big Baby: Vision boards for kids
61 | Crafts for and by kids 62 | Puzzles & Games 63 | Proper Parties 67 | Travel: Road Tripping 72 | The Final Word: Derek Watts
Published by: Contact Media Publishers: Donna Verrydt/Sean Press Editorial Director: Shelley Carroll (ADvTECH) Editorial Manager: Christelle Wolmarans (ADvTECH) Editorial Assistant: Kumari Lewis (ADvTECH) Editor: Donna Verrydt (Contact Media) Head of Finance: Lesley Fox (Contact Media)
51 | THE HANGOUT 52 | Career Files 56 | Alumnus: Tyla Gormley
Design Director: Candice Masson/Quinten Tolken Copy Editor: Angie Snyman Production Coordinator: Gwen Sebogodi Writers / Contributors: Donna Verrydt, Margot Bertelsmann, Anthony Jansen van Rensburg, Traci Salter Repro & Print: Kadimah Print Every child a masterpiece | 1
DIVERSIFYING YOUR INCOME with U.K retirement investments
10
Years
10%
Net Yields It may come as a surprise that a first world country - like the U.K- has a shortage of suitable retirement properties. Compared with other developed countries such as the USA, Australia and New Zealand where as much as 17% of retirees live in retirement communities, in England it’s only 4%. There is an opportunity for South African’s to reap rewards by investing in this under-supplied market. A South African run property sourcing firm is working with experienced British developers who convert existing stately homes into retirement villages. The model is simple; one purchases a property which is leased back from the operator for 10 years at 10% Net Income.
Expat South African entrepreneur, Arran Kerkvliet, runs One Touch Property Investment brokerage which sources retirement property. He says; “Retirement properties are a stable and lucrative investment because there is an aging U.K population with 23% over 65”. According to research in 2017 conducted by AgeUK 31.4% of those aged 65+ have said that their main company is the television, and 8.5% “often or always” feel lonely. In sunny South Arica there certainly are more opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. However, no one wants to do that on their own - wine tastings, country walks and weekly visiting entertainers could fill the days no matter which country you are in.
Residents at retirement villages, based in the South West part of the England, enjoy gourmet meals created by a top chef who has worked at Michelin-starred Castle Hotel and alongside celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson. The beauty of the idyllic English countryside is not the only advantage; all the produce is locally sourced and residents can cultivate the gardens where the ingredients are grown. Unlike South Africa, there is a limited availability of land due to greenbelt protection and restrictive planning permission. The resulting outcome tends to be positive on two accounts; the types of properties that are acquired for retirement property investments are conversions of stately homes which have an enchanting character and charm. Understandably, there is a shortage of these type of homes and the obvious appeal drives demand far in excess of supply. Weekly rents, including meals and entertainment, are R21,450. Elderly guests that require an element of nursing care will pay extra for the additional services. The caring communities were designed for self-paying guests over 65 years of age that want to enjoy the company of like-minded people and also have access to care if required. For couples that have one sickly partner in need of 24-hour nursing care, they can still live together. Readers may be able to relate to the soft benefits that create a tangible positive impact on residents’ lives. There are also encouraging investment returns to be made; One Touch Investment director explains; “South African investors love to own property and that is what they will be doing. They will own a property (full title deeds) within a retirement village and the operator will lease the property back for a period of 10 years with 10% net income”. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW THESE LATER LIVING INVESTMENTS WORK PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE FREE GUIDE BY VISITING: www.onetouchinvestment.co.uk/craw-retirement-home-guide/ OR CONTACT ONE TOUCH PROPERTY BY: 010 300 1200 | enquire@onetouchinvestment.co.uk | www.onetouchinvestment.co.uk
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High Yielding Luxury Care Home INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
• Number of over-65s forecast to rise from 11.6m in 2016 to 12.9m in 2021 • High end market is already under-supplied, impacting average weekly rents according to CBRE • Knight Frank estimates that the over-60s in England alone have £1,200bn in unmortgaged housing wealth. • Many over-60s wish to downsize but cannot due to lack of adequate housing options
• Our retirement home opportunities are in areas with high numbers of over 60s such as Cornwall, Devon and the Isle of Wight • Purchase prices from R1.2m with 10% Net return over a 10 year commercial lease. • Diversify to your property portfolio and income stream with a very solid sector. • Invest in the UK while the pound is weak.
One Touch Investment are retirement home property specialists, offering luxury retirement home investment opportunities across the country, in pockets where there is hight percentage of over 60s. These hands-off investments are ideal for busy individuals and those who want to own property without the headache of managing it day-to-day.
Download our guide to learn more about the retirement market and our retirement home opportunities www.onetouchinvestment.co.uk/craw-retirement-home-guide/
www.onetouchinvestment.co.uk
Tel: 010 300 1200 | enquire@onetouchinvestment.co.uk 288 Bishopsgate, City of London, EC2M 4QP
Every child a masterpiece | 3
4 | Crawford Times
SPOTLIGHT NEWS
HERE YE, HERE YE!
Competition Winners
I
n the last issue of Crawford Times, we ran some seriously cool competitions. In this issue of Crawford Times, we’ve drawn some seriously cool winners. Are you one of them? Read below!
I want to win with StokeCity Adventure Park... ... and if your name is Kamo Hlalele, you have! Congratulations Kamo because you, nine of your friends and two adults have won a party at this awesome floating obstacle course. Be sure to send us pictures of all the fun you have when you’re there! www.stokecity.co.za
I want to win with Gold Reef City... ...and if your name is Angeline Moodley, you have! Congratulations Angeline, you and five of your friends have won a party at Johannesburg’s premium thrills destination, Gold Reef City. Send us your pictures please! www.goldreefcity.co.za
Win with Little Jet-Setters Congratulations to Ditshego Kekana for winning the little Jet-Setters competition. You will soon receive your Introductory Box and an Egypt Country box too – delivered directly to your home. You will love learning with Little Jet-Setters. www.littlejetsetters.co.za
New photo competition begins! Our new photo competition has kicked off, so get snapping because there are some cool prizes to be won. Send your entries to crawfordreporter@contactmedia.co.za before 15 March 2019.
Every child a masterpiece | 5
SPOTLIGHT NEWS
Crawford Prepatory Pretoria
Students shine at 2018
Tournament of Minds Competition
Students from several schools across South Africa have once again outperformed and outdone themselves at the second Tournament of Minds (TOM) South Africa competition, which was held at Southdowns College on 27 October 2018. TOM is an international problem-solving competition designed to give participants the opportunity to participate in creative thinking and reasoning, responding to open-ended challenges which demand collaborative inquiry and solution seeking while rewarding divergent thinking. TOM promotes learning and development as an individual within a team structure. “Education has moved significantly in considering the needs of the students of today and how we engage them in learning, as well as providing them with authentic, real-life scenarios. Having the opportunity to be part of an international competition means that we are connecting to and keeping up with international trends and practices, and providing our students with opportunities to participate in this too,” says Traci Salter, Director of TOM South Africa and ADvTECH Academics Advisor. 6 | Crawford Times
TOM is the biggest problem-solving competition in the world. The challenges include STEM, Language Literature, Social Sciences and Arts categories. A team consists of seven pupils made up from participants in Grade 4-7 from primary schools and Grade 8-10 from high schools. Six weeks prior to the tournament day, each team selects a long-term challenge that they want to present on the day. They work completely independently to solve the challenge posed to them. On the day an unseen spontaneous challenge is presented to the teams to solve. The combination of the prepared and unseen challenges determine the South Africa winners in each category. “TOM is a unique opportunity for South African participants to interact with their peers, test intellectual tenacity, and potentially compete internationally, should they win at the South Africa Finals,” says Traci. This year a total of 20 schools registered, with 46 participating teams, making it the second largest group of participating teams globally. The winners in each category of the Asia Pacific regional event are automatically eligible to participate in the international finals to be hosted in Australia.
Crawford Preparatory Lonehill
Crawford Preparatory Lonehill
Crawford College Sandton
Crawford Preparatory Lonehill
Crawford Preparatory Lonehill
The Primary teams include: • Crawford Preparatory Pretoria (Team 2) overall winners in the Arts category. • Crawford Preparatory Lonehill (Team 3) overall winners in the Language category. • Crawford Preparatory Lonehill (Team 4) overall winners in the STEM category. • Maragon Ruimsig Primary (Team 1) overall winners in the Social Sciences category. • The High School teams include: • Crawford College Sandton (Team 2) overall winners in the STEM category. • Pinnacle College Kyalami (Team 2) overall winners in the Arts category. The following teams received Honours certificates as close runners-up in each category. The Primary teams include: • Trinityhouse Preparatory Little Falls (Team 2) in the Arts category • Crawford Preparatory Sandton (Team 2) in the Arts category • Crawford Preparatory Lonehill (Team 1) in the Arts category • Pinnacle College Copperleaf Primary (Team 1) in the Arts category • Charterhouse School (Team 1) in the Arts category • Trinityhouse Preparatory Little Falls (Team 3) in the Social Sciences category
Crawford Preparatory Pretoria
• Crawford Preparatory Lonehill (Team 2) in the STEM category • St. Stithians Girls Preparatory (Team 3) in the STEM category The High School teams include: • Pinnacle College Founders Hill High School (Team 1) in the Arts category • Trinityhouse Little Falls (Team 1 & 2) in the Arts category • Maragon Ruimsig High School (Team 1) in the Arts category • Maragon Ruimsig High School (Team 2) in the STEM category In addition, there is a Spirit of the Tournament award. This is centred around the fundamental attitude of ‘sportsmanship’ that underpins the entire programme. It encompasses all the activities involved in successful personal and team support participation. This years’ Spirit of the Tournament was awarded to Trinityhouse Preparatory Little Falls. “We wish to thank all the participating schools and TOM Facilitators in our schools for the time, energy and enthusiasm in getting TOM active and happening in their schools, and inspiring the teams in their quest to be ready to provide the most original and unique solutions to the challenges posed to them this past weekend,” said Traci after the event. “In addition, we thank all parents, spectators, family, friends and sponsors for making this such a wonderful day. We are looking forward to an even bigger and better turnout in 2019, welcoming all interested South African schools onboard.” Every child a masterpiece | 7
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MATRIC RESULTS
Every child a masterpiece | 9
MATRIC RESULTS
“The exceptional matric results achieved across all our Colleges testify to the CrawfordSchools™ commitment to consistently delivering academic excellence, while developing young people who are ready to take on the world. I would like to thank all our teachers for their passion in creating a dynamic, stimulating and happy education environment, our students for their drive and discipline, and our parent community for supporting the schools’ ethos to maximise the potential in every student”, says Morag Rees, MD of CrawfordSchools™ We anticipated a strong performance from the Class of 2018, but these hard-working young people exceeded even those expectations. The Crawford College matriculants achieved a 100% pass rate with an astounding 97.6% Bachelor’s pass rate. In addition to this there were 6 students who achieved 9 distinctions, 22 with 8 distinctions, 22 with 7 distinctions, 21 with 6 distinctions and
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44 students achieved 5 distinctions. This totalled an astounding 169 students across our Colleges who achieved 5 or more distinctions. The average number of distinctions achieved across the group was 2,4 with one College achieving in excess of an average of 3 distinctions per candidate. There were also a number of students who were included on the ‘Commendable Achievement’ list (placed in the top 5% in the country across 5 subjects) and the ‘Outstanding Achievement’ list (placed in the top 5% in the country across 6 subjects). In almost all instances the subjects averages achieved in our Colleges were also higher than the national averages (some significantly so). Many students across all our Colleges were also included on the ‘Top 1%’ of students in the country list. Please join us as we welcome the Class of 2018 to the Old Crawfordian Society and celebrate their academic excellence, knowing that every teacher, coach and mentor has played a significant role in preparing them for this moment. Congratulations to all!
TOP 5% OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
TOP 5% COMMENDABLE ACHIEVEMENT
ASAD AMEER
ADÉLE BOTHA
IMAN CASSIM
LA LUCIA
NORTH COAST
SANDTON
TOP 5% OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
TOMER MELNIK
DENIELA NAIDOO
SAYURI NAIDOO
SANDTON
NORTH COAST
LONEHILL
Every child a masterpiece | 11
MUHAMMAD AMEEN BODA
NICHOLAS BRIGANDO
KAYLAH CHETTY
PRETORIA
LONEHILL
LA LUCIA
TAMMY CRAGGS
AMAARAH EBRAHIM
TASIYAH ESSOP
LONEHILL
SANDTON
PRETORIA
TOP 5% COMMENDABLE ACHIEVEMENT SAMANN HARIPERSAD
RAPHAELA MYLONAS
SAIEN NAIDOO
LA LUCIA
SANDTON
PRETORIA
12 | Crawford Times
GUENIVERE NGOI
DYLAN PFAB
KIVANIA PILLAY
LONEHILL
LONEHILL
LA LUCIA
TOP 5% OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT GABRIELLA PILLHOFER
FIRDOSE RAJAH
DANIKA RAMALINGUM
SANDTON
SANDTON
SANDTON
TOP 5% COMMENDABLE ACHIEVEMENT
TOP 5% OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
SHAYUR RAMDUTT
DARSHAN RAMPHAL
SYLVANAH RANGIAH
LA LUCIA
LA LUCIA
LA LUCIA
ARMIN SADIGHLOGHMANY LONEHILL
JESSICA SCHRADER
ADAM STRIKE
HAO TANG
SANDTON
SANDTON
LA LUCIA
Every child a masterpiece | 13
ZAAHID ABDOOL
DOMINIQUE BINNS
WENDY BUVANA
PRETORIA
PRETORIA
NORTH COAST
ALESSANDRA GALASSO
SHREVANI GOVENDER
BENJAMIN HACK
LONEHILL
LA LUCIA
SANDTON
VIASHNA HANSRAJ
LAILA KHAN
MICAELA KOK
NORTH COAST
SANDTON
NORTH COAST
14 | Crawford Times
AUDREY KUCHIO
HANNAH MAEHLER
RAFIE MEHRJI-MANSHADI
PRETORIA
LA LUCIA
SANDTON
YUVIKA MITHOO
DERRIN NAIDOO
CHRISTIE NORTON
LA LUCIA
SANDTON
LA LUCIA
ADAM NORWITZ
RAMIN SABET
ESTHER SLABBERT
SANDTON
LONEHILL
PRETORIA
AALIA TIMOL
JORDYN TROLLIP
RUOWEN WANG
BIANCA WARD
SANDTON
NORTH COAST
LA LUCIA
LONEHILL
Every child a masterpiece | 15
P R O F E S S I O N A L S P O RT S S U R FA C E S
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ZOË BALYAMUJURA
CROYDON BUSSE
BRANDON CHETTY
PRETORIA
NORTH COAST
LA LUCIA
RADO DAMIANOV
SANAM GOVENDER
NABEELAH ISMAIL
LONEHILL
NORTH COAST
PRETORIA
NOA JOUBERT
ANRI LOOTS
SAIUSHA LUTCHMAN
LA LUCIA
NORTH COAST
LONEHILL
Every child a masterpiece | 17
PAUL MAREE
GINA MORAN
DANIELA PACHECO
SANDTON
NORTH COAST
LONEHILL
SAARAH PATEL
LESEDI PHALA
ERIN RUSHFORTH
PRETORIA
SANDTON
LONEHILL
ALYSSA SMULLEN
BLAKE STEPHENS
AIDEN SWARTZBERG
SANDTON
SANDTON
SANDTON
CARA TURNER
CAELIN VAN DER MERWE
CHANTELLE WALKER
SANDTON
LA LUCIA
PRETORIA
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ALEXANDER ANDROPOULOS
IBUKUN BABAWALE
KASHIV BHAGWANDIN
JESSICA BROOM
SANDTON
PRETORIA
LA LUCIA
NORTH COAST
MUKUNDI BUDELI
THUTO CHIMIMBA
KYRA COETZEE
LINDA DLAMINI
PRETORIA
PRETORIA
PRETORIA
LA LUCIA
ANGELA ECKHARDT
EMMA FERNS
ERIN FUHR
MICHAEL GOODING
LONEHILL
LA LUCIA
SANDTON
SANDTON
Every child a masterpiece | 19
MMELI HADEBE
MARIA KAPARELIOTIS
PRASHAY KESSOW
ROBERT KOEN
PRETORIA
SANDTON
SANDTON
LA LUCIA
MUHAMMED MADHI
SEJAL MAHARAJ
SREYAS MAHARAJ
TSHOLOFELO MAPHITA
SANDTON
LONEHILL
LA LUCIA
SANDTON
DALIA MARAM
EMMA MARSHALL
LIAM MAYSTON
DANISHKA MOODLEY
SANDTON
PRETORIA
LONEHILL
LONEHILL
RIVAN MOODLEY
KIRTHI NAIKER
TERYSHA NAICKER
NICOLE NATHAN
SANDTON
NORTH COAST
LA LUCIA
SANDTON
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RAPHAELA NICOLETTIS
THEMBELIHLE NKOSI
QHAMANI NKUHLU
KELLY OLIVIER
SANDTON
SANDTON
LONEHILL
NORTH COAST
MUHAMMED-ABRAAR OMAR
KARTHIK PATHER
JESSICA PRACHER
KASHMIRI RAJBALLY
LA LUCIA
LA LUCIA
LONEHILL
LA LUCIA
DINEKE SCHOLTZ
KGABANG SEKHABI
MOUTLOATSI SETLOGELO
CAMERON SHAW
PRETORIA
PRETORIA
NORTH COAST
LONEHILL
CAILIN STUART
MIKU TSUMORI
CLEA WELCH
BENJAMIN WILLIAMS
SANDTON
LA LUCIA
PRETORIA
LONEHILL
Every child a masterpiece | 21
MOJOYIN ABOLARIN
AMMARA AZIZ
PAPHAWARIN BUTSRI
KEANU CALO
PRETORIA
LA LUCIA
SANDTON
LA LUCIA
DIELLA DEAN
LIYANDA DUBE
DESHLIN GOVENDER
YASTIL HARILALL
SANDTON
NORTH COAST
LA LUCIA
NORTH COAST
AAZAM KALLA
HANNAH KENNEDY
KHUMO KOMANE
ALEXIS KOO
PRETORIA
NORTH COAST
PRETORIA
SANDTON
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GAURAV LALL
ARYA MAHARAJ
NEHA MAHARAJ
CONNOR MAYSTON
SANDTON
LA LUCIA
SANDTON
LONEHILL
JAMES MCILREE
VITORIA MENDES RAMOS GASPARINI
NANDI MTHETHWA
GEORGIA PARKIN
LA LUCIA
LA LUCIA
NORTH COAST
JUSTINE PILLAY
KAYLA SONI
HAYLEY STUART
DARRELL TU
LA LUCIA
LA LUCIA
SANDTON
SANDTON
LONEHILL
YILONG ZHANG SANDTON
Every child a masterpiece | 23
24 | Crawford Times
IS FINALLY H ERE! C
alling all budding chefs, young foodies and teen culinary enthusiasts... it’s time to dish up your A-game because the cooking competition of the century is hot and ready to go. Besides having fun, learning new culinary tricks, meeting new people and being inspired, you may just walk away with some serious prizes and the title of Taste Bud Battle Winner!
Who can enter?
How to enter?
Any Crawford pupil may enter The Taste Bud Battle. There are various age categories, including:
On 30 January, the Taste Bud Battle microsite will go live.
Pre-Primary (4-6 years old) Preparatory (7-13 years old) College (14-18 years old) Entry Theme: Character Dessert Challenge In other words: Create a dessert inspired by your favourite fictional character – cartoon, fairytale, Disney characters, superhero, Avengers, fantasy, Harry Potter, etc. Examples: The Beast’s Apple Roses or Angry Birds Chocolate Nest or Harry Potter’s Caramel Cauldron.
Log on at www.tastebudbattle.contactmedia.co.za and enter the required fields of information, including: • Name and surname • Age • School • Character motivation (the big idea) • Your character recipe Upload 2 x pictures of your creation and 1 x picture of you making it Entries close 6 March 2019!
Every child a masterpiece | 25
Power to
INSPIRE
The Chef Titanium is the ďŹ rst kitchen machine from Kenwood to feature in-bowl illumination. It offers unparalleled power, precision and versatility. Creating beautiful dishes has never been easier. Our most powerful kitchen machine ever features stainless steel bowl tools andd meets even the most exacting requirements with ultimate precision. A machine with more than twenty attachments and hundreds of possibilities.
1500 or 1700W Motor power to inspire
5-piece bowl tools K-Beater, Power whisk, dough hook made from stainless steel, creaming beater, folding tool
Variety of attachments More than 20 optional attachments
In-bowl illumination Gives you better control of the mixing process
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What happens next? A panel of professional judges will go through all on-line entries and the most creative entries in each age category will go through to the semi-finals called the First Plate Presentation.
What is the First Plate Presentation? Those who make it through to the First Plate Presentation will be invited to create their chosen character dessert and bring it to a meal tasting session to be held at Capsicum Culinary Studio in Rosebank Johannesburg and other designated sites regionally. (Details to be shared closer to the event date). From the First Plate Presentation, 10 x Pre-Primary, 10 x Preparatory and 10 x College finalists will be chosen to attend the “Final Cook-Off�.
What is the Final Cook-Off? The Final Cook-Off is the last stage of the battle, where the 10 finalists in each age category will be invited to cook a required menu, in a time challenge competition at Capsicum Culinary Studio. (Details to be shared at the event).
Taste Bud Battle Winner Event The winning Pre-Primary, Preparatory and College chef in the Taste Bud Battle will be announced at a delicious event, to be held at Capsicum Culinary Studio, in front of an audience of all finalists and their families.
Prizes!
The Taste Bud Battle winners in the PrePrimary and Preparatory age categories will win amazing prizes sponsored by Kenwood and O2, while the Taste Bud Battle winner in the College category will be offered a Capsicum Culinary Studio bursary worth
R98 000!
*Terms & Conditions apply. See microsite for details.
From the Final Cook-Off, a winner will be selected in each age category and will then be announced at the Taste Bud Battle Winner Event (details to be shared with the finalists).
Rules All Pre-Primary and Preparatory children who make it through to the Final CookOff will be required to cook under the supervision of an adult (who may assist lightly with advice and the hot stuff). College students will cook on their own. * Other terms and condition apply (see microsite for details)
Every child a masterpiece | 27
back2school with
o2 to go
WIN
1of 6 Distributed by Goldenmarc (Pty) Ltd P.O. 2386, Rivonia, 2128 28 Box | Crawford Times
o2 HAMPERS FOLLOW THESE EASY STEPS TO ENTER: • Scan the QR code • Answer the question on our website to get an entry into our lucky draw • Click on the SHARE button to share the post with your friends
AVAILABLE AT MAJOR RETAILERS
Tel: 010 442 9103 www.goldenmarc.co.za
PARTNER If you want to learn to be a chef or to work in the food industry, there is no better tertiary education institution than the Capsicum Culinary Studio! The school boasts purpose-built training facilities, campuses in six major centres, and talented and experienced chef lecturers. There is no better partner to the Taste Bud Battle and we are thrilled to have Capsicum on board. Not only will Capsicum Culinary Studio be the home of the Taste Bud Battle activations and events, but their chefs will be the masterminds behind the Taste Bud Battle menus and cook-off challenges. And to top it off, they are offering an incredible winner prize — see Taste Bud Battle info pages for details.
SPONSOR Kenwood proudly designs and manufactures cutting edge, stylish and efficient kitchen appliances and have been doing so since 1947! They are the experts in food preparation and they aim to enhance your enjoyment of cooking. The Taste Bud Battle is thrilled to have Kenwood enhance the enjoyment of our contestants cooking experience through the use of their MultiOne Kitchen Machine — a life changer!
SPONSOR You definitely know the O2 kitchen products — how could you not? They are the cool, trendy and innovative goods (including baking equipment, glassware, water bottles, lunchbags, crockery, cutlery, storage, etc.) that have caught you eye in major retailers. Now, O2 is going to bring the cool to the cooking school because, as a sponsor of the Taste Bud Battle, all contestants will have the opportunity to use their amazing products.
Every child a masterpiece | 29
SCHOOL FEATURE
Crawford SchoolsTM principals of fer up powerful words of wisdom to live by and guide you on your path to personal and academic success in 2019.
André Botha
Crawford College Pretoria at’s “When you can’t control wh you y wa happening – control the That . ing pen respond to what’s hap is power.”
30 | Crawford Times
Chrisna Swanepoel Crawford Preparatory Pretoria “Always balance ‘screen time’ with ‘green time’ – go offline and spend time in nature, with family and friends.Communicate using words, not social media. Learn the difference between real friends and virtual friends. Remember to ‘keep it real’ in all that you do!”
Ian Rothman
Crawford Preparator y Fourways “The world is dynamic and change is inevitable. Be open to new challenges and embrace every opportunity that yo u are given. Never be afraid to try and follow your passion.”
Sulochnee Nair
ar y Pretoria Crawford Pre-Prim rtunity pass “Never let an oppo your skills. to further enhance head on Tackle challenges self through and empower your n. It really is the ongoing educatio your life for sure way to change the better.”
Caroline Miller
Jill Meintjes Crawford Village “Learn to voice your opinion and always stand up for what you believe is true and fair.”
Barbara Killian Crawford Pre-Primary Fourways “Be brave enough to know that wisdom is not always measurable.”
Crawford Pre-Primary Lonehill “Change management! According to Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, it’s not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change. There are basically two ways to cope with change – acceptance or resistance. In this fast-changing world of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, you have to allow events to unfold around you and react to them spontaneously, without defeat. The wisdom of uncertainty allows the unknown to take place and welcomes it as a source of growth and understanding.”
Cindy Tribe
Gordan Ewen
Crawford Preparatory Lonehill “Engage with as many people as possible.”
Carolyn Warwick Crawford College La Lucia “Learn the power of asking the right question!”
Crawford Pre-Primary La Lucia “Let me play! It is the hig hest form of research!”
Every child a masterpiece | 31
32 | Crawford Times
Ingo Vogt
Lonehill Crawford College and each obstacle “See all learning – an opportunity as an opportunity miliar, an to explore the unfa er new ov sc opportunity to di an opportunity ts, len interests and ta ng such an to grow. Developi you to succeed!” p ui attitude will eq
Alan Angel
Crawford Preparatory La Lucia “Be kind, dream big, have fun, work hard and be grateful for what you have.”
Anthony Jansen van Rensburg
Crawford Italia “If we want to go far, we need to go together…”
Ryan Haigh
Crawford Preparatory Sandton my younger “Looking back, I would encourage or process nce erie self to focus more on the exp more and e mor than the result. It’s becoming are – s’ skill ter ‘sof obvious how important the The s. pen hap the core from where learning time that in ent result is only a specific mom t from an whereas the growth and developmen you sets and ard experience carries you forw up better for the next task.”
Di Dawes
Crawford Pre-Primary Sandton “Remember that a mediocre teacher tells, a good teacher explains, a superior teacher demonstrates, a great teacher inspires. Keep on learning and look for those inspirational moments.”
André Loots Crawford College North Coast “Be where you are – try more, do more. Embrace the world and let the world embrace you!”
Geertje Wadsworth
Crawford Pre-Primar y North Coast “Trust yourself, your intuition and your abilities. Many opportunities are heading your way. Stay present and be aware of them. Embrace them all. Give thanks for the blessings in your life, have gratitude and smile”moments.”
Sally-Anne Henegan
Crawford Preparatory North Coast “Focus on your strengths. See any failure as temporary and keep your expectations realistic. In that way you will always DANCE in the rain and NOT just get wet!” Every child a masterpiece | 33
CLAIM BRITISH CITIZENSHIP LAW CHANGE MEANS YOU COULD QUALIFY FOR A BRITISH PASSPORT
A change in legislation has led to a new path to British citizenship. A recent court ruling now allows claims through a UK-born maternal grandfather. Known as citizenship through “double descent”, this complex path means that thousands of previously disqualified people will now be eligible.
CONTACT US TO FIND OUT IF YOU QUALIFY
INTERNATIONALISE YOURSELF, YOUR WEALTH AND YOUR BUSINESS +27 (0) 21 657 2139 citizenship@sableinternational.com 34 | Crawford Times
PARENT
POINT
Every child a masterpiece | 35
FEATURE ARTICLE
Free to
succeed:
The Power of Constant “Uptraining” By Anthony Jansen van Rensburg, Principal, Crawford Italia
U
biquitous, mobile supercomputing. Intelligent robots. Self-driving cars. Neuro-technological brain enhancements. Genetic editing. Coding. Cryptocurrency. The evidence of dramatic change is all around us and it’s happening at exponential speed. Yes, I am referring to the Fourth Industrial Revolution… the one that has the potential to disrupt every industry in every country through large-scale automation, adoption of emergent technologies, big data and artificial intelligence.
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Previous industrial revolutions liberated humankind from animal power, made mass production possible and brought digital capabilities to billions of people. This Fourth Industrial Revolution is, however, fundamentally different. It’s characterised by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, impacting all disciplines, economies and industries, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human.
There are many predictions and estimates on how this will affect labour markets, but one thing is certain – the jobs we do, and the skills we need to perform them, will change – and it’s already changing rapidly. The Department of Labour estimates that in 20 years about 47% of job types that we know today are no longer going to exist, they will be replaced by technology. A World Economic Forum (WEF) report predicted that current trends in a disruptive labour market could lead to a loss of 7.1 million jobs, two-thirds of which are in administrative roles. Which jobs are most immediately at risk of automation? CEOs across many sectors describe one painful current quandary. They have to lay off hundreds of people because their jobs are disappearing and companies no longer need their skills – on the other end, they have
hundreds of job openings they just cannot fill because they just can’t find people with the right training and skills. This mismatch is bad for everyone: Lives are derailed, families and communities damaged, business opportunities lost. Technology itself offers one path to a solution. In fields from robotics and cybersecurity to supply chain management, many universities are pioneering online programmes – such as MicroMasters – that provide top-quality, industry-relevant skills and credentials, in a form recognised by leading employers, and at a fraction of the price of traditional higher education degree and diploma courses! For people with industry expertise who need to become proficient in digital or problem-solving skills, including teachers seeking to prepare their students for the future, Every child a masterpiece | 37
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FEATURE ARTICLE
The top 10 skills that will be most needed in 2020 are: an answer could be ‘continuous uptraining’: a system that would allow every employee to devote significant time – every week, every month or every year – to acquiring fresh skills. If educational institutions, employers and employees can imagine and refine a solution together, continuous uptraining could become a crucial tool to help individuals adapt to relentless change. In the future, talent, more than capital, will represent the critical factor of production. To make sure they are ready for a future that is still emerging, organisations and people need to be adaptable, innovative and responsive. If up to 65% of the jobs of tomorrow don’t exist yet, it’s impossible to “train” people in the conventional sense. Rather, we need to invest in their capabilities.
• Complex problem-solving • Critical thinking • Creativity • People management • Co-ordinating with others • Emotional intelligence • Judgement and decisionmaking • Service orientation • Negotiation • Cognitive flexibility
To ensure we build talent that’s capable of mastering change we need to invest in resilient leadership. Leadership skills are not tied to particular jobs or industries, and solid leadership development provides the kind of transferable skills likely to be needed in the future.
businesses, governments and educational institutions working together to provide curricula that meet current and future needs.
Education systems need to be redesigned if we’re going to tackle the transitions ahead. This entails
As the African proverb goes: If we want to go far, we need to go together. Every child a masterpiece | 39
FEATURE ARTICLE
WHAT ARE ? M E H T D E E N E W O D Y H W AND Content by Traci Salter, written by Margot Bertelsmann
W
riting for the Daily Maverick of 26 November 2018, Glenn Gillis, MD of tech communication company Sea Monster, says, “The World Economic Forum’s 2018 Future of Jobs report revealed the critical thinking and digital skills of the current workforce are inadequate for the progress of a successful economy in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “The workplace of the new world could create as many as 133 million new roles but in order to fully take advantage of these, a workforce with the skills needed by digital-era organisations is essential. “Labour-intensive roles in sectors like mining and manufacturing are the most likely to disappear, while professional services roles adapted to the new technologies are most likely to grow. “With the manufacturing and mining sectors still employing more than three times as many people as professional services in South Africa, the country is set for massive disruption.” We’ve heard variations of this message before, and we’re going to keep hearing it – from futurists and analysts and employers: critical, creative and reflective thinking skills are essential if you want to have a successful career as a young person today. It’s why these skills are featured as as one of the key global competencies for students in ADvTECH schools. As ADvTECH’s Traci Salter says: “Responding to the challenges of the 21st Century requires young people to be creative, innovative, enterprising and adaptable, with the motivation, confidence and skills to use critical and creative thinking purposefully. By applying a sequence of thinking skills, students need to develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the processes they can use whenever they encounter problems, unfamiliar information and new ideas.”
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In the last issue of The Crawford Times, we looked at how important critical thinking skills are for the rest of your life, particularly in the context of a future world of work – the much bandiedabout Fourth Industrial Revolution – where information has become democratised. Facts are easy to access. It’s how you handle that information that sets you apart. Critical thinking skills mean you can assess the strength of an argument and decide whether it’s a good one. This skill is great for deciding what you believe in, or whose life philosophy or business strategy to follow. Creative thinking skills are not completely unrelated to critical thinking skills, but they’re from different branches of the family. Creative thinking is like critical thinking’s more socially skilled cousin, the verbose, relaxed life and soul of the party. Specifically, creative thinking is learning to “generate and apply new ideas in different contexts, see existing situations in a new way, identify alternative explanations, and see or make new links that generate a positive outcome,” says Traci. It’s about thinking “broadly and deeply using skills, behaviours and dispositions such as imagination and innovation to find opportunities for new ideas and possibilities in all learning areas at school and in their lives beyond school.” It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But how do you learn this elusive skill? Well, it’s actually possible to practise and hone your students’ creative thinking capabilities (and, conversely, through outmoded teaching and learning models, to inhibit and choke them). The first thing to note is that creative thinking skills get a bad rap. They’re floaty and ethereal and chaotic and unscientific. As Andre Croucamp, whose consultancy MindBurst teaches creative thinking skills in schools, says, “In creative thinking, the connections between things are messy, indirect and multiple. They are open to many different patterns and possibilities.”
Why on earth would you as a parent who is a scientist or businessperson or lawyer or doctor want to encourage your llittle darling to engage with this kind of creativity and cram it into his or her head? The answer is simply that every innovation – from using artificial intelligence in surgery, to starting a game-changing, disruptive business, to making a devastatingly brilliant closing argument in a court case – started because a person was able to put two seemingly unrelated ideas next to each other, in a startling way, and create something of genius. Croucamp explains, “Creative thinking helps us to imagine possible hypotheses or even wild conjectures, while critical thinking criticises those hypotheses, testing them and refining them so that they can work within the constraints of reality – producing powerful explanations and solutions.” They work together. So yes, creative thinking can be unsettling, and our knee-jerk reaction can be to reject it outright. The challenge is to persist without judgement, knowing that most of your ideas won’t be the elusive Big Idea. But hopefully, you won’t miss the nugget of gold that’s lurking between all the sand! Creative thinking skills come in handy when you are confronted with a problem to which you have no answer, or that you know nothing about. You’re stumped. You’ve thought and thought and you just cannot decipher the question in your History exam, “What was Hitler’s strategic error in invading Greece in 1941?” Take out a piece of paper and start writing. Some experts advise a stream-of-consciousness exercise, where you write continuously and don’t lift your pen for five minutes, or half a page, for instance. Write down anything you do know about World War II and Italy and Germany’s invasion of Greece. Before long, you might arrive at the idea that invading Greece to help his ally Italy catastrophically delayed Hitler’s attack in Russia, as it meant his soldiers had to fight during the Russian winter. Brainstorm all the possibilities. In Maths or Accountancy homework, do you find that you fall into the same trap and make the same mistake at the same stage of the process, over and over again? That could
Every child a masterpiece | 41
FEATURE ARTICLE be because everyone’s thinking falls into patterns and routines. Sometimes the routine needs a shake-up. Next time you need to balance an equation or a spreadsheet, do something different. Write down a step that you usually do in your head. Do one thing out of the usual order. You may be surprised that you avoid your usual error.
Here are some more strategies that can help you oil those creative thinking muscles:
In your Maths or English tests, you may have been asked to solve for X, or what poetic device the poet uses to illustrate his loneliness. The familiar panic creeps over you. “Solve for X? A poetic device? What does this even mean?” One good creative thinking skill is to restate the problem in different words. So, you suspect you are being asked what number X is. How about if you start from a different place. Do you know what X is NOT? Or you’ve gone blank and you don’t even know what a poetic device is right now. Forget about it. Restate the problem. Have you ever felt lonely? Write down some words to describe the feeling. Lonely is a feeling that feels, perhaps, like quiet, small, soft, inward, down and alone. Look at the poem again – oh boy! The lines are really short. And there’s no dialogue. Guess what? Those are two “poetic devices” the poet may have used to illustrate his loneliness.
Everyone has one, but learning to prick up your ears when your instinct speaks up is a skill.
If you are ever left at the end of a Maths exam, with half an hour to spare, why not try this: tackle the question you left out, the one you had absolutely no idea about. Take a scrap piece of paper. Now doodle the problem. Draw the story sum. In the geometry question, fill in all the angles you DO know instead of worrying about the one you’re supposed to find. The technique for solving problems in subjects as vastly different as Maths, English and History was actually the same: in each case, you used creative thinking.
Daydream
Dreaming, mind-walking, playing with or imagining scenarios can shake loose a random flash of brilliance.
Learn to listen to your little voice
Impose an artificial limit
Stumped for ideas? Limit your time, or your word count. Challenge yourself to answer a question without using adjectives, or only using five-letter words, for instance. Your brain may surprise you with its creative workarounds.
Brainstorm or doodle
Write down everything you know or can associate with a problem, without expecting a solution, and without fear or embarrassment. Draw while you are mulling a problem over. Allow yourself to make wild and crazy suggestions as well as those that seem sensible. Treat all ideas as if they may contain the seeds of something potentially useful.
Look for many possible answers rather than one
Be aware that these approaches involve making lots of suggestions that are unworkable and may sound silly. This means you will make mistakes – but it doesn’t matter. You learn from what has not worked as well as what did.
Take a break and/or a nap and come back to the problem
It’s the brain equivalent of restarting your computer to see if the error message goes away.
Exercise
It engages a completely different part of you, but the thinking part will still be simmering away in the background.
Take risks
Learning how to cope with uncertainty is a sign of a mature thinker. You can manage the frustration and even embarrassment of not knowing because you are enduring it as you grapple through towards knowing. Many people cannot grapple, cannot manage failure, do not have the staying power and give up too early. This does not have to be you.
Creative thinking can be applied to all aspects of life and living. One of the strategies we use to include creative thinking in our lives is TAP Thinking (Think All Possibilities), no matter the scenario!
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Thinking challenges for the family
A team building challenge
In less than one minute, think of ten or more uses for
A calendar
A wig
You need: 40 pieces of spaghetti, thick sellotape and a marshmallow. What to do: Divide into teams and in 10 minutes see which team can build the tallest, self-standing structure with the marshmallow placed at the top. The winning structure is the one that stands the tallest, unaided.
A fly-swatter
In 90 seconds give 10 reasons why
1
There are children with green faces on television.
A saucepan lid
A sponge
2
The teachers are all dressed as pineapples.
3 4
There is a pet gorilla in my clas s.
Ever yone is eatin g ice-cream.
5
School is closed for two days. Every child a masterpiece | 43
! T U O N R U B You may be suffering from ‘Adrenal Fatigue’ – or is that even a real thing?
Adrenal Fatigue is real alright! You only have to put yourself to bed everyday at 3pm, exhausted, to realise something is just not right with your body. Here are other signs: • Struggling to wake up in the morning • Trouble falling asleep • A mid-afternoon slump • Anxiety, or feeling on edge • Chronic mood swings • Depression
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• Weight gain – especially in the belly area • Autoimmune issues • Brain fog • Body aches • Hair loss • Light-headedness
When does chronic fatigue happen? When you’re overwhelmed by chronic stress, your adrenals can get burnt out from constantly producing cortisol. The result is adrenal fatigue. Your natural cortisol rhythm becomes irregular – sometimes you produce too much cortisol, sometimes not enough. What can you do about it? Meet Dr. Hester Visagie, a functional medicine practitioner, who looks for the cause of the symptoms a patient presents. “It’s about spending time with the patients; I sit with one patient for an hour, sometimes an hour and a half, because it’s impossible to get to the root of a problem in a five or ten-minute meeting,” says Dr. Visagie. “But as a practitioner, or doctor, you can get to the bottom of the problem if you take the time to dig deep enough!”
HEALTH Dr. Visagie likes to confirm a diagnosis through tests – blood, skin, urine and saliva. She says she is a scientist and the information is always in the results. “If someone comes to my practice complaining of fatigue, there are many possibilities to consider. Such as, is there emotional, physical or mental stress? Is there an iron deficiency, thyroid issues or possibly adrenal fatigue?” “One of the things I do to get clarity is to send a patient to the laboratory to measure all the hormones, including cortisol, an adrenal hormone produced in reaction to stress. To measure cortisol we use a saliva test over 24 hours as there is a rhythm to consider. Cortisol levels are usually high in the morning, then drops during the day and finally reaches its lowest point at about midnight. Then, while we sleep, it builds up again. So I do two to four samples over a 24-hour period, then plot the results on a graph to see if the adrenal hormones are unusually high or low. I test the whole thyroid (TSH, T4, T3), the sex hormones, DHEA, which is also an adrenal hormone and precursor to the sex hormones – the whole lot. Your hormonal system is a series of glands that ‘talk’ to one another all the time – they are linked. So, you can link the thyroid with oestrogen and progesterone, the female hormones (if you are female), and you can link it to the brain hormones like prolactin, which is just one of the six hormones secreted by your pituitary gland in the brain. This allows me to see what one metabolic pathway is stealing from another. If your cortisol is so low, something else is pulling too hard, causing imbalance. I’d like to make one thing clear: it’s important to use a saliva test to measure cortisol, because it’s in its free form in the saliva. GPs often make the mistake of requesting the blood (or serum) cortisol rather than the saliva. In almost all cases, the cortisol levels in the blood will show as normal because the cortisol in the blood is bound to a protein and when it’s bound to a protein, it’s locked up – an inactive form of cortisol. The free-form cortisol is the active form, so it’s the one that does the job in your body. There are different stages of adrenal insufficiency. At the very low end of the scale, cortisol levels can be non-existant. The normal range for cortisol is between 6 and 29. So someone with advanced stages of adrenal insufficiency might start the day at 0.5, which is very low. Then they’ll go through the day like that at 0.5, 0.3 and ending up at 0.2 by bedtime.
I hope that helps to dispel the thought that Adrenal Fatigue is just in a patient’s head. A patient can be helped with this. There is no quick fix! It’s not a case of swallow a pill and be all better. The treatment is holistic, that means looking at lifestyle as well as specific supplementation. You have to understand the root cause of the imbalance or insufficiency of cortisol. If it’s an emotional or mental stressor, the patient should also be referred to a psychologist or perhaps a life coach, or whichever practitioner is appropriate. How to address Adrenal Fatigue 1. Sleep: Make sure you sleep soundly for at least seven hours a night – with no interruptions. Also don’t over-sleep; nine hours is too much. 2. Food: Look at what you’re eating. If there’s inflammation we try to bring it down through diet. Usually we start cutting out sugar, gluten, egg white and dairy. The patient must not eat these things for about three months. It usually takes between three to six months to get rid of inflammation. 3. Eat regularly: ...and at specific times of day. Eat something within 30 minutes of waking up in the morning, because it’s a hormonal signal to the adrenal hormones. Then eat regularly, every two and a half to three hours, even if it’s something small, like slices of cucumber. 4. Avoid stimulants: ...such as coffee and sugar-heavy foods. 5. Stop eating: ...two or three hours before bedtime! You can only have water or camomile tea before bed. 6. Exercise: Don’t over-exercise as that can be a stressor, but find the balance. Under-exercising is also a major problem.
Dr. Visagie has a practice in Johannesburg and is certified by the Institute of Functional Medicine in the USA. Contact number: 011 679 5924 Email: receptiondebbie@gmail.com
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FEATURE ARTICLE
! Y B A B G I B DREAM VISION BOARDS FOR YOUR KIDS By Donna Verrydt
Over the years (even if it’s just been one or two), you’ve assisted your children with their education, their motivation, their inspiration and even consolation – and that’s what good parents do! But it’s time to kick it up a gear because the greatest gift you can give your children is the ability to discover who they are, what they want, and how to plan to achieve those things. It’s the start of 2019 and the perfect time to introduce your kids (no matter their age) to the power of Dream or Vision Board creation – a fun way to visualise goals and to plan to achieve those goals.
Step 1: Ask questions! What do you know about your children? What are they passionate about? What are their hopes and dreams? What are their fears and stumbling blocks? Do you, as a parent, have all these answers? Do your kids know these answers themselves? It’s time to ask them the questions. You may find that they know themselves better than you think they do and that they simply need some goal planning guidance. Or, you may discover that they know diddly-squat about themselves and need inspiration to discover who they are and what they actually want. A good place to start is with a ‘Life Wheel’, which segments one’s life into different areas, making it easier to contemplate. As adults we all know that contemplating life as a whole can be overwhelming, so looking at life bit by bit is easier to chew.
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Your child should segment his or her Life Wheel into any categories they want. These categories shouldn’t restrict their dreams but should rather be used as a thought guide. A simple, eightsegment wheel that works well for kids is: • Family (examples: Would you like to spend more time with your family? What would you like to do more with them? Would you like to establish a better relationship with a sibling?) • Friends (examples: Would you like to have more socials at your house? Do you need to move away from problem friends and find that one special friend? Do you want to extend your friend circle and meet more people? • Schoolwork (examples: What is the next step of your academic achievement? What subjects would you like to do better in? What would you like to learn more about? What extra work can you do to push you ahead of the rest?)
STEP 2: Gather the goods What you will need: A large piece of cardboard. You can even use an old cork or felt memo board if you like. Old magazines or printed Internet pictures. There are magazines, pamphlets, flyers everywhere, or you can Google search some images and print them out. Failing that, coloured pencils or kokis will help you draw your dreams and goals. Glue or board pins.
• Extramurals / Sport (examples: Would you like to try a new sport? Would you like to beat your personal best record? Which sports team would you like to make?) • Health (examples: Would you like to be fitter? Would you like to change your eating habits? If so, how? Would you like to work out more?) • Things I love (examples: What do you want to in the next holidays? Where would you like to travel to? What books would you like to read? Would you like to learn to paint?) • Future me (examples: What do you want to be when you grow up? What type of person do you see yourself becoming? What would make you happy in your future?) Every child a masterpiece | 47
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Step 3: Make dreams come true Let your child think about their dreams and goals in the context of the Life Wheel segments. They may come up with their “answers” all on their own and will then just need to source the pictures to match their dreams and stick them on their boards. Or, if your child needs some inspiration, let him or her go through the magazines or look on the Internet and choose pictures that motivate them or that makes them feel ambitious.
Step 4: Place and look Place their Dream Board in their room where it can serve as a daily reminder of their goals.
The big no-no! It’s really important that your children don’t fill their Vision Boards with toys and material possessions. Obviously, most boys dream of having a Ferrari and girls, a big house (and that’s okay), but it shouldn’t be the focus of their Dream Boards. Children are so bombarded by marketing, labels and material “worth” and parents are put under a lot of pressure to deliver these goods of “value”. You and your children need to focus on what is real, what is meaningful and what it is to be in touch with one’s self.
EDITOR’S PERSONAL STORY Explaining materialism to kids
With the build-up to Christmas, I was feeling under pressure. I wanted to get the kids what they wanted but the requests were ridiculous! I’m talking iPhones, a Playstation 4, 2 x Fitbits… and a donkey (not kidding!). I was dreaming about money values (fourteen million, sixty hundred thousand and seven), of epic Zuma proportions! Eventually, I had enough. I took the bull by horns and shared this little story with the kids – one you may want to share with your kids too! Once upon a time, there was a person called The Clever One who thought: “How can I make all the Followers in the world pay me all their money so I can spend my days travelling the world on a yacht?” The Clever One came up with a cunning plan to make a sneaker – just a simple shoe, but he put a red tick on it. The Clever One then told the whole world that this ‘Red Tick Sneaker’ could change everyone’s life; it could make the unpopular popular, the poor look rich, the unhappy seem happy... Nobody would be able to live without this sneaker! And then The Clever One sat back with a grin on his face and waited.
All the Followers believed that the Red Tick Sneaker would change their lives and went out and spent truckloads of money to buy the shoe. The Clever One got richer and richer and spent his days travelling around the world on his yacht while the Followers got poorer and poorer and had to work long, hard hours to fund the Red Tick Sneaker that they believed would change their lives. At the end of the story Olivia (12) said, “Wow mom, people are really silly!” To which I said, “What takkies have you got on your feet?” She looked down and saw the tick on her takkie and looked up in horror. I smiled and finished off with, “Yes, Olivia, people really are stupid!” Every child a masterpiece | 49
EVERY DETAIL MAKES AN MSC CRUISE NOT JUST ANY CRUISE. Every detail on an MSC Cruise makes you live a unique experience. Like each of the strawberries dipped in 30g of sumptuous dark chocolate and 5g of white chocolate that we offer to welcome the most loyal guests, which is just one example of many delicacies handmade on board by our select chefs using only the freshest ingredients. Another meticulously crafted touch of class. Developed with you in mind.
NOT JUST ANY CRUISE msccru ises.co.za
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THE
HANG OUT
Every child a masterpiece | 51
CAREER FILES
DESTINED FOR
T
A creative career!
here is design in everything! The clothes you wear, the way restaurant food appears on your plate, every advert that pops onto your phone or logos you see on billboards, every game you play, every photograph you take… even every road you drive in our city, has all been designed!
What is design?
There are two main ways to consider design. One is that design is a plan, a map, a blueprint, a drawing or a model showing a big idea and how the idea can be achieved. This relates to things like interior design, fashion design and even architecture! The other way to consider design is how something looks. In this crazy marketingdriven world, you need your brands and products to catch the eye of the consumer. And at the heart of every design, of everything, lies the idea of a creative person!
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10 signs you’re a creative! People always compliment you on your art, or your talent with an instrument or your “interesting” dress sense… but are you truly creative? If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the below questions, you are most likely a “creative”.
1 2 3
Do you see beauty in the ordinary? Some people see the plastic bag littering the street. You see a white dancer, twirling in the breeze. Do you understand the power of atmosphere? Some people need an office, you understand that a coffee shop or secluded cabin, can boost your creative juices. Do you like to people watch? Some people like to get into the mall and do what they have to in record time, you like to linger at a coffee shop watching people go by.
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Would you choose passion and happiness over money? Some people only work towards the bottom line, you work towards creating something unique or making a difference. Are you an emotional person? Some people remove emotion from the task, you feel art and music and beauty in surroundings. Are you inspired by colours, nature, patterns, performances? Some people speed by focusing on their next appointment, you take the road less travelled “brainstagramming” all the beauty you come across.
If you are creative, you could consider tertiary studies in one of the following fields…
Do you enjoy off-colour jokes? The OTT jokes that make other people go ‘yoh!’ are the jokes that you kill yourself laughing at.
Digital Design: This is a growing specialty in the field of graphic design. Digital designers use creativity and computer skills to design visuals associated with electronic technology.
Are you against being managed? While most people conform to corporate rules and regulations, you like to do things differently and don’t need a babysitter.
Graphic Design: The art or skill of combining text and pictures in advertisements, magazines, presentations, brands, books, invitations, logos, etc.
Interior Design: The art or process of designing the interior decoration of a room or building.
Do you look for new and alternative ways to do things? When people do it how it has always been done, do you look to change it up for the better.
Game Design: Video game designers often work as part of a team to create video games. They come up with the games’ concepts, characters, setting, story, and game play. Designers must work with artists and programmers to create the scripting language and artistic vision for a game.
Do you like to solve problems? While others roll their eyes at challenges that disrupt the norm, you see it as an opportunity to create something different.
Fashion Design: Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories.
Every child a masterpiece | 53
CAREER FILES
Digital Marketing: The promotion of products or brands via one or more forms of electronic media. It differs from traditional marketing in that it uses channels and methods that enable an organisation to analyse marketing campaigns and understand what is working and what isn’t. Copywriting: Rearranging words to make things sell better or a text form of salesmanship. Copywriters are responsible for the text on brochures, billboards, websites, emails, advertisements, catalogues and more. This text is known as “copy”. Brand Communication: An important part and tool of brand management by which the companies inform, persuade, enlighten, teach, remind and enrich the knowledge of their stakeholders about the brand, its strengths, values, fundamentals, and its offerings of products and services. Brand Management: The activity of supervising the promotion of a particular brand of goods. Photography: The art or practice of taking and processing photographs – these days, mostly digitally. 54 | Crawford Times
HIGHLIGHT
Game designers imagine stories happening in video game worlds and bring them to life. A true example of passion into pounds and pence (or in our case rands and cents). Gaming is a thriving industry worldwide and the number of careers in this field has grown exponentially. The work is enjoyable, the work environment is fun and there are high starting salaries. However, not everyone who enjoys playing video games will enjoy creating them! In fact, creating a video game is a long and tedious process with many tasks and people needed to complete a workable product.
So, what is game design?
Game design is a field that draws on skills from computer science, programming, creative writing and graphic design. Game designers take the creative lead and imagine stories, characters, gameplay, rules, interfaces, dialogue and environments. This being the case, a game designer is a cross between a writer, artist and programmer (in simpler terms).
Skills needed to be a Game Developer • Communication skills • Critical skills (accepting and giving constructive feedback) • Presentation skills • Storytelling skills • Basic visual design skills • Basic drawing skills • Basic scripting or programming skills • User interface designing skills
How long does it take to study Game Design?
Video game designers typically have a bachelor’s degree in game design, computer engineering, or computer science which takes four to five years to complete.
Living The Dream
For parents who think gaming is something their kids do for fun, before they get a real job, here is an interesting story: Alex Balfanz is an 18-yearold student at Duke University who doesn’t just play games, he makes them! He created Jailbreak, which took off in a big way. “In the first 10 months after Jailbreak released, the game yielded a seven figure profit,” Alex says of his cops-androbbers adventure game released last year. A few weeks ago, it was played for the billionth time. Alex is just one of thousands of young gaming entrepreneurs in their teens or twenties making money in an industry that made $36 billion last year (thats R517 billion in our world). Gaming is offering new ways to make a living that didn’t exist 10 or even five years ago! Every child a masterpiece | 55
ALUMNUS
Ty’s Styling! Tyla Gormley Alumnus year: 2010 Crawford school: Crawford College La Lucia Current career: Fashion stylist and co-owner of a fashion supply company
In a few words, please explain to us exactly what you do. I own I’m Styling, specialising in fashion, editorial and personal styling. Fashion and editorial styling is co-ordinating, styling and sometimes directing fashion photo shoots for companies and brands. I work with a lot of Durban-based chain stores as well as smaller brands and sometimes overseas brands too. I also co-own another company with my aunt Clare Jones, called T and C Clothing. We supply chain stores with fashion-forward ladieswear that is produced and manufactured locally. When did you discover your love of fashion? I have always enjoyed designing and sewing my own clothes from a very young age, even during my high school years and fortunately, Crawford College allowed us to specialise in that discipline for Art exams. Did you ever start your own fashion line as a kid? During Matric I started a brand called Tarche. It didn’t last very long but I did one open day at my house and realised I couldn’t cope with juggling Matric exams and sewing at the same time. After
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school, I also started a little girls brand called TAH clothing. That also was a short and sweet venture but I loved every minute! What made you follow Fashion Styling, as opposed to Design? I believe “styling” is a gift you are born with and isn’t something one can learn easily. My mom was the one who said she thought I’d become a stylist. There were no courses for Fashion Styling at the time in South Africa, so I went to London to study Editorial Styling at the University of Arts, London (UAL). It was here that I gained confidence in myself and enjoyed every minute of my studies. I returned knowing that styling was definitely something I was going to pursue. And then you became an entrepreneur and started your own business – go you! Growing up in a successful family, in every sense of the word, I was determined and inspired from a very young age to make a success of my career and to work to my maximum capability. There’s no better feeling than making something you have created yourself, succeed. That feeling becomes addictive, and hence I started T and C Clothing. What is the worst thing about your job? Most probably the long hours. Luckily, I am a morning person so the early morning call times don’t get to me too much. What is the best thing about your job? Being able to meet new people every day, being on different locations and working with extremely talented individuals. I also love the challenge it provides and dealing with other owners of successful companies. Then there’s the travelling and, most of all, feeling like a ‘Boss Lady’! What has been the most exciting project you have worked on? My career is my project and I love it all. Any shoot that involves set design and building is extra exciting and I basically have to source and make up sets such as bathrooms, bedrooms, lounges, all within a blank studio. What makes you good at what you do? Organisation! And being able to read a situation well. Also, being able to adapt my styling to suit the client’s needs and not just my own preference. Every child a masterpiece | 57
ALUMNUS What is a typical day like for you? There is no such thing as a “typical” day in the life of a stylist. A shoot day involves getting to a studio or other location early to style the models with the specific garments, which have all been pre-sourced and planned beforehand in the pre-production days leading up to a shoot. A day in the life of working in my T and C Clothing company consists of liaising with fabric suppliers, buyers and clients. Keeping up with trends. Going to factories, organising orders... to name a few tasks. We often do buying trips overseas to keep up with the styling trends. What were you like at school? I loved being involved in everything. I very rarely sit still so my school days involved dancing (a lot of it), playing hockey, tennis, running and helping organise whatever event was on. I wasn’t the loudest kid but I was a hard worker. I am still close friends with a lot of my school friends. My grade at school has gone on to be a very successful bunch. A few of us girls gather monthly for dinner and we have all started our own companies, so we chat and catch up and help one another out with challenges and advice. What has been the greatest lesson you have learned in your life? I made up a saying when I was younger: If you do good, be good, good things will follow! I stick by that still today. Although it is not a lesson as such, it’s something I carry with me and feel it has led me to the path I am on now. Who is your greatest inspiration? My parents. I adore them and who they are. They have also brought me and my brother Wesley up to be the closest of friends and I am so grateful I get to have that relationship with my sibling. What makes Crawford such an amazing school? I don’t think I would have been in the career I’m in now if it weren’t for Crawford La Lucia. They encouraged me to pursue styling and design in Art, especially my Art teacher Mrs Hutch. I would design, sew and then style a photo shoot for my Art practicals. Crawford is a very special place that accepts and encourages individuals to truly be themselves. I am forever grateful for that! What was a highlight of school for you? I would say getting the Principal’s Award at the end of Matric. I felt extremely honoured to be chosen. What life advice would you give the current Grade 12s? It is a great step to set your goals for the future, however, there are always many obstacles that get in the way. If you accept those obstacles as challenges and overcome them, there’s no better feeling! I wake up everyday and look forward to what life has to offer. I love working and facing challenges. Our opportunities are endless and nothing is stopping us from accomplishing our goals. My faith has proven to me on many occasions that when you do good and be good, good things will follow! 58 | Crawford Times
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KIDS’ PAGES
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GET OUT THERE
s kid r fo d an by ts af Cr ! IT DO Credit Donna Verrydt
I
like the idea of doing arts and crafts with my kids, but I really don’t have a crafter’s eye or a final product vision – at all! To some moms, a button is a potential eye or part of a button bracelet; to me, a button is an indication that someone’s shirt is flapping open. So I take inspiration from what I read and see, and sometimes I see some cool things... like this “Fort-in-a-bag!
Fort-in-a-Bag
Other cool things you could add: • Marshmallows • A favourite book • A torch • Fairy lights
For whom? Here’s a craft gift for a “little person” who loves adventure. What is it? A home-made bag filled with everything needed to make a tent fort, including: A flat sheet
Clothesline
Pegs
How? • Trim several inches from the open end of a pillowcase to form a pouch, 50cm tall. • For a drawstring, turn the pouch inside out, then fold down the cut edge 1cm, iron it, then fold down the new edge by 4cm, and iron that. • Using a wide-eye needle and embroidery thread, sew all around the fold to create a channel. Turn the pouch right-side out. • Let your child paint a fort on the bag with fabric paint. • Paint a rectangle with fabric paint then snip an opening in the channel, to help prevent the fabric around the drawstring hole from fraying. • Knot the ends of a 1.5-metre length of cotton cord. Attach a large safety pin to one end and use it to feed the cord through the channel. • Fill the bag with fort-building supplies.
TIP:
Life is busy, there’s never time! But put this craft in your diary – get it done! Then put your phone down, close your laptop and climb inside your home-made fort with your little one!
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e e r F e B
KID’S PAGES
Free to be you!
How many different people can you count?
ANSWER: 36
Free time
Spot the 10 differences between the two ‘Free time’ pictures.
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Free the tangled flamingos
These flamingoes are up to their necks in trouble! Help them free themselves.
PROPER PARTIES
GET OUT THERE
In the last issue of Crawford Times, we introduced Proper Parties featuring cool ideas for your child’s big day. So far we’ve covered cave parties, thrill-ride parties and water obstacle parties. In this issue, we feature underwater, quad biking and tree top fun!
Splash fest Urban Dive, Northcliff
U
rban Dive specialises in kids’ scuba parties and here is all you need to know before you take the plunge. It all begins with a short instructor briefing and a 10-minute video to get the kids acquainted with the equipment, procedures and safety aspects. And then the real fun starts... Divemasters will then take over and get the kids kitted up before they hit the pool. Depending on the number of attendees, kids will be taken down in groups of two or three where they will spend some orientation time in the shallow end with a divemaster. The kids who are not diving can swim and snorkel, and play on the grass deck overlooking the Dive Pool which boasts a Timberland jungle gym, trampoline, soccer net and basketball hoop! When the “diving kids” are comfortable enough, they can then venture into the deeper water (all under the supervision of the divemaster) to discover the Shipwreck and Treasure Chest filled with sea jewels and pirate treasure. The birthday boy or girl gets to open the chest on the first dive, and then can play underwater games like frisbee and missiles. Half an hour before the party ends, the kids climb out, get dressed and then it’s cake time.
Contact details Website www.urbandive.co.za Call: 011 476 5172 Email enquiries: cresta@urbandive.co.za Address: 353 Beyers Naude Drive, Northcliff, Gauteng Go and view the venue and their friendly staff will gladly show you around and chat about the scuba parties. Activities offered: • Minimum six kids and maximum 20 kids. • Kids 8 years or older do full scuba (descend underwater). • Kids 7-8 years old do surface scuba (around the surface). • Kids under 7 years are welcome (non-scuba) but they get to snorkel, swim and enjoy the party just as much. • There’s no charge for kids under 3 years old unless party packs are required. • Party duration is three hours and the time slots are: 10am to 1pm or 2pm to 5pm.
WIN WITH URBAN DIVE!
Win a two-hour party for six kids at Urban Dive by simply emailing crawfordreporter@contactmedia.co.za with the subject line: I want to win with Urban Dive! Entries close on 4 March 2019. Every child a masterpiece | 63
Quad fun
Saddle Creek Adventures
Quad adventures are an exciting way to celebrate a birthday but often the kids are required to be older than 16. However, with Saddle Creek Adventures, which is situated in Gauteng’s “adventure-ville” aka Hekpoort, there’s a thrill ride for all ages. There are quads suitable for small kiddies, tweens, teens and adults with Saddle Creek’s offering of mini quads (kept on a kiddie track) and fully automatic 150cc quads (for out rides). The adventure will start with a briefing from the experienced, friendly and safety-conscious guides who will familiarise your party guests with the quads, safety aspects and the bushveld that you will soon venture into. Saddle Creek Adventures has unique packages including a 30, 45 or 60-minute Bushveld Ride or you can look into their Combo Deals, as they also offer other adventures like archery, clay pigeon shooting, go-karting and horse riding. Information Prices of quads: R385 per person (R125 for children under 12 going as a passenger) – 30 minutes R515 per person (R170 for children under 12 going as a passenger) – 45 minutes R765 per person (R210 for children under 12 going as a passenger) – 60 minutes R90 per child (5 to 9 years old, supervised by a guide) for a mini quad ride on the kiddies’ track only – 10 minutes *prices may differ due to print times.
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Hospitality Food and drink are available at Saddle Creek Adventures. What to wear Hats and sun cream are essential in summer. A spare change of clothes is suggested if going out after the adventure activities. Riding helmets and hairnets are provided for each activity and are compulsory. Contact details Website: www.saddlecreekadventures.co.za Call: 079 467 9906 Email enquiries: info@saddlecreekadventures.co.za Address: Farm HH24, Hartebeesfontein Road, Hekpoort
GET OUT THERE
Swing city! Acrobranch
There are two things that kids love: adventure and their birthdays. Acrobranch combines these two loves with hosted birthday parties for kids of all ages. From pirates to Tarzan or Spiderman, there’s just something about zip lines and swinging from tree to tree that appeals to the imagination of all children. Acrobranch has eight parks around the country: Cape Town, Centurion (The Big Red Barn), Pretoria North, Pretoria East (Rosemary Hill), Linksfield (Huddle Park), Melrose, Stellenbosch (Klein Joostenberg) and Garden Route, each with their own unique offerings, party facilities and catering options. Courses and price info • Acrotwigs Course: 3-6 years old – R140 per person • Monkey Moves Course: 7+ years – R180 per person • Swinging Tarzan: 9+ years – R220 per person • High Flying: 12+ years – R280 per person *Please note that additional height restrictions that vary from park to park may apply.
How to book Book a birthday party through their bookings office on 086 999 0369 or send an email to bookings@acrobranch.co.za with your requirements. Booking notes: Each park has a different caterer that works on the premises of the specific park. The bookings office will provide additional info for catering at the park, or it can be accessed via the website on the park’s page or catering and restaurant section under quick links. 1. At Melrose they allow self-catering, however, a table needs to be reserved for a fee of R200 through the bookings office or park manager. 2. Please note that each course has specific restrictions and they vary from park to park. These can be found at www.acrobranch.co.za. 3. Final numbers need to be confirmed five days prior to the party.
Win with Acrobranch! Win a birthday party for you and nine friends to enjoy a thrilling day of fun at an Acrobranch near you! Stand to win by sending your entry to Crawfordreporter@contactmedia.co.za before 17 May 2019. • Please note that this prize is subject to availability on the date you would like to book. • For terms and conditions please refer to https://acrobranch.co.za/ terms-conditions Every child a masterpiece | 65
Vaccination is cool for School
Contact your Healthcare Practitioner for more information
sanofi south africa (pty) ltd, 2 Bond Street, Grand Central Ext 1, Midrand 1685. Private Bag X207, Midrand 1683. Tel: (011) 256 3700. Company Registration No: 1996/010381/07. www.sanofipasteur.com. SPZA.MENAC.18.12.0080
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TRAVEL
g n i p p i r T Road gie Snyman By Donna Verrydt & An
I
n the immortal words of Douglas Adams: “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.” He knew there should always be an element of ‘getting lost’ if you want to claim your road tripping credentials! “I’m a big fan of local road trips like South Africa’s Route 62 and let’s not forget the Vaalie trek every December to Durbs. But road trip plans don’t have to be confined to South Africa! The world is a much smaller place than it used to be, so South Africans can now tackle beautiful highways and byways all over the planet,” says Nicky Potgieter, Flight Centre Leisure Marketing Leader. Nicky offers her tried-and-tested tips for two of the world’s most epic road trips... and we’ve thrown in a local goodie too!
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Pacific Highway
CALIFORNIA 1
Monteray
United States Ah… the open road, the sun-kissed Californian coast and the glittering Pacific – this one’s for all you movie lovers out there, and promises road trippers an opportunity to channel their inner Thelma and Louise. One of the world’s most celebrated road trips, California 1 begins in San Francisco, travelling along the coast and clinging to mountains and cliffs through Big Sur and the charming towns of Santa Barbara, Carmel and Monterey, recently depicted in the series Big Little Lies, then ends in San Diego. Highlights along the journey Santa Barbara You’ll think you’re in Spain when you visit picture-perfect Santa Barbara with its characteristic palm trees and red tile roofs. It’s definitely worth stopping overnight so you can spend some time strolling along Stearns Wharf for a bite to eat. Big Sur One of the most beautiful and undeveloped stretches of coastline in the world features on this section of Highway 1 between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon. Here the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean providing stunning coastal views. San Francisco No visit to California would be complete without a few days in the “City on the Bay”. Spend a day strolling around Fisherman’s Wharf, take a ferry to Sausalito for a unique perspective on the city skyline or hop on a tram and admire the coloured Victorian façades. Need to know before you go 1. The Big Sur section of Highway 1 has been closed until recently due to mudslides caused by heavy rains. Make sure you check your route daily. 68 | Crawford Times
2. Take care where you stop along the way to take photos as there are sections of hairpin bends and narrow shoulders which would compromise your safety. 3. Download Google Maps or buy a map for the area because cellphone reception can be intermittent along Highway 1. 4. Hire a fuel-efficient vehicle as fuel along this route is very expensive. Flight Centre travel advice • For the best views along Highway 1, we recommend driving north to south – not only is San Francisco a convenient place to start the drive due to flight access, you’ll also be on the ‘right’ side of the road to stop if it’s safe to take photos. • South African passport holders need a tourist visa which can be applied for at the US Consulates in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. • The quickest way to get to San Francisco is to fly via Atlanta with Delta Air Lines, or New York or Washington with South African Airways. • If you’re flying via the Big Apple to San Francisco, consider breaking up your journey with a couple of nights in this vibrant city, says Potgieter. “In fact, it’s always a good idea to see if you can top or tail your road trip with a couple of days to relax in a destination. Make the most of your time while you’re there.”
Torres del Paine
TRAVEL
RUTA DEL FIN DEL MUNDO Chile and Argentina You’ll feel like a pioneer when you travel to “the end of the world”. Epitomising the mantra of “not for sissies”, the combination of Chile’s Carretera Austral and Argentina’s Ruta 40 promises road trippers some of the most extraordinary landscapes on earth. From magnificent fjords and glaciers to ancient forests and snow-capped peaks, nature takes centre stage on this 5 500km route which winds from Santiago, Chile’s energetic capital, to Punta Arenas in the remote wilderness of Patagonia. Highlights along the journey Bariloche A little Switzerland in South America, the ski resort of San Carlos de Bariloche is located on the foothills of the Andes and surrounded by lakes and mountains. It’s a great stop for outdoors enthusiasts, offering water sports, climbing and trekking opportunities. Pumalín Park This 715 000-acre conservation area stretches from the heart of the Andes to the fjords of Chile’s Pacific Coast. The park was founded to protect the Valdivian rainforest and offers sea kayaking, hiking and climbing opportunities. Pumalín Park
Bariloche
Torres del Paine A national park showcasing some of the most sensational scenery in the southern Chilean Patagonia, Torres del Paine is perhaps best known for its distinctive three granite peaks of the Paine Massif, which rise up 2 500 metres above sea level. Need to know before you go 1. Be prepared to pay a fairly hefty one-way car rental return fee – you’re dropping your rental vehicle thousands of kilometres from where you picked it up. 2. Much of the route is gravel, but you can get away without renting a 4X4 provided the vehicle you select has high clearance. 3. You’ll also need to carry extra fuel and fill up whenever you can because petrol stations are few and far between. 4. The weather can be very harsh with considerable variations in temperature, and parts of the route can even be closed during winter, so it’s best to tackle it in summer. 5. It’s not easy to stock up on essentials like gear in remote little villages so you’ll have to bring everything you need with you.
Flight Centre travel advice • South Africans don’t need a visa to travel to either Chile or Argentina. • The quickest way to get to South America: South African Airways or LATAM Airlines to São Paulo in Brazil, then connect to Santiago on LATAM’s extensive network. • Carry some cash with you because ATMs are not freely available in remote areas. Every child a masterpiece | 69
Robertson
South Africa ROUTE 62 South Africa Did you know? The scenic Route 62, between Cape Town and Oudtshoorn in South Africa, was named by CNN Travel as the world’s best road trip destination in 2017. Route 62 primarily connects Cape Town to Oudtshoorn, and ultimately the Garden Route further east. It’s been called “a journey of the unexpected”, with something for everyone, highlighting the natural beauty of our fauna, flora, rivers, valleys and plains. The diversity of activities available turn the seemingly mundane commute into an adventure!
Cango Caves
Highlights along the journey Ronnie’s Sex Shop: Before you get all hot under the collar, Ronnie’s Sex Shop is a roadside bar – nothing more! It’s quirky and fun, and very popular with tourists and road warriors. Legend has it that in the late 1970s, local farmer Ronald Price opened his roadside farm stall, complete with a proudly handpainted sign. Friends of Ronnie, as a joke, amended the sign to its now famous title, and the rest, as they say, is history. Inside, the bar is covered with travellers’ graffiti, neckties, bras and other things from ceiling to floor. There’s a full restaurant, overnight accommodation and communal pool with gorgeous views of the Karoo. Robertson Roberstson is the land of the up-and-coming winemakers and the heart of Route 62’s wine route. But wine is not all that’s on offer! Robertson also offers tours of the Klipdrift brandy plant which is resident here too. Just beyond Robertson, is the mountain town of Montagu – home of South Africa’s dried fruit and nut industry. Activities in the area include Robertsons Wacky Wine Festival (between April and June) and Montagu’s famous rock climbing spots! 70 | Crawford Times
Ronnies Sex Shop
Cango Caves Just outside Oudtshoorn, hidden beneath the Swartberg Mountains, lies an extensive limestone system of tunnels and chambers dating back millions of years and reaching almost 300 metres underground! Here you can choose to walk, or do the more adventurous cave climbing into the caves’ darkest, narrowest and deepest chambers!
TRAVEL
ROADHOUSE Campervan vacation Camping seems to be one of the only ways in which modern humans can connect with nature and the outdoors. South Africa has some of the best areas on earth to camp, naturally setting up tents day-in and day-out for the duration of a few weeks doesn’t really seem like much of a holiday. A form of travel/ accommodation which is experiencing renewed popularity is campervan vacations. Around the area Some noteworthy SA destinations with great camping include the Kruger National Park, Entabeni Game Reserve, Kapama Game reserve, Balule Nature Reserve, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park and the Cederberg area, which has many well-established camping areas, and the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. These are only a few of the great places to enjoy camping in South Africa.
Five reasons to hire a camper: 1. It’s easy! No hard work looking for a flat spot, putting up tents, blowing up mattresses, washing dishes in dubious communal wash-up areas, using the even more dubious communal bathrooms, setting up cooking paraphernalia, etc. With a camper, you drive in, link to the power, get the mountain bikes off the back and go and have fun! 2. It gives you flexibility! You have the ability to make the snap decision to just move on if you wake up on a drizzly morning. Even out on excursions, if the weather turns, you have your whole wardrobe with you. Afternoon naps for the kids are easy too! 3. Kids love it! Kids lie and read their books and play Monopoly while the camper chews the miles. They even like organising their stuff in a camper, and tidying it up too. The fact that it has a place to charge an iPad is also a win! 4. Meet people: Camping and caravaning bonds people. So many friends are made this way because the majority are relaxed, happy-go-lucky people. Kids ride off and make friends and you don’t see them for hours! 5. It’s not cheap: There is a rental per day, plus your fuel and camping fees! But what it does buy you is flexibility and independence. Every child a masterpiece | 71
THE FINAL WORD
Advice from a Legend The older legends of SA reach out to the youth of South Africa with some tidbits of advice. By Angie Snyman Derek Watts has presented Carte Blanche for 30 years – the longestrunning investigative journalism show in South Africa. In his business, he’s seen lots of things, met loads of people and learned some important lessons. Here he shares some of his stories and advice for Crawford students. If Derek Watts wants to talk to you, you may have reason to panic! Do people avoid contact with you, Derek? Ha, ha, only if they have something to hide. But I have had lots of requests to prank someone’s mate or colleague! Many of your stories are actually “good news” stories. Which positive story did you enjoy the most? Probably meeting Jane Fonda on her ranch outside Albuquerque. Just so un-Hollywood. She made us tea then we drove with her around the ranch on quad bikes looking for places to film. We did a sequence by a stream to pretend we were fishing and miraculously caught a huge salmon on the first cast. Jane laughed so much she almost fell in! Who that you’ve interviewed made you most angry? Well many a South African government official made me angry… but the award for the rudest fellow and copyright owner of the fakest smile (apart from mine) is Arnold Schwarzenegger. What’s your biggest travel disaster? ... being pushed onto a rat-infested dhow at Bagamoyo in Tanzania at midnight by the ebullient longbeard Kingsley Holgate and drifting into Zanzibar at first light with a massive headache and empty wallet. Kingsley Holgate, what a legend! Who is your fantasy travel companion? My fantasy travel companion for a 72 | Crawford Times
long road trip would be South Africanborn Falcon rocket man and Tesla legend Elon Musk who can tell me all about his modest plans to get to Mars! You once said, “I TRULY BELIEVE that I could be one of the world’s greatest adventurers...” I think I did qualify that by saying, well… if it was a nine-to-five escapade with regular cappuccino breaks and an electric blanket and feather pillow along with DStv in the evenings, ha, ha. But I do enjoy bonding with the great outdoors. If you didn’t live in South Africa, where else in the world would you choose to stay? Anse Lazio beach on Praslin Island in the Seychelles. Because I’m a beach bum and diving and snorkelling addict. Life is a series of ups and downs, tell us about your lowest and highest points? The lowest point was moving animals from the Luanda Zoo when a tiger escaped and killed my producer and close friend Rick Lomba. The highest point was ironically standing on the ice of base camp Mount Everest with Cathy O’Dowd after her epic and controversial ascent. The climbing season was closed and there was not a tent or person in sight. Just that majestic mountain. Yes, we did get there by helicopter… Kilimanjaro is my only claim to dubious fame. What advice do you have for Crawford kids embarking on life... The life road has many potholes, but the road continues. Never let the potholes slow you down. Navigate them well and continue to your destination ahead.
@DerekWatts Carte Blanche is South Africa’s longest-running investigative journalism programme. Catch Derek and the team at 7pm on Sundays on M-Net.
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