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Stepping stones to romance in Kleinmond Writer Elaine Davie
L
et no one tell you that we in the Overstrand are not a romantic lot, even in a time of Covid! If you had any doubts, then Kleinmond’s popular Ward 9 Councillor, Grant Cohen will have put them to rest. This is how his story played itself out… A lot of advance planning went into it, but since all those involved were sworn to utmost secrecy, no one thought it unusual for a group of ten friends to go hiking in the mountains above Kleinmond on a beautiful Saturday morning in January. Included in the group were Grant, his girlfriend Rowena Karelse, her young son, Robin, and Grant’s visiting teenage niece, Jordan. What was unusual, though, was that Rowena kept discovering beautiful round stones on the trail with mysterious messages painted on them. When she picked up the third stone, she burst into tears. The message read, ‘From now on, you and Robin will never be alone again’. The sixth, and last, simply asked ‘Will you?’ And then Grant was down in the fynbos on one knee, ring in hand. By this time, Rowena was beside herself. But Grant was not done yet. Obviously anticipating a positive response to his proposal, he had arranged with Chef Frans Groenewald of Gabriëlskloof to prepare a celebratory picnic brunch on the mountainside. A member of the group sharing this happy moment with Rowena and Grant was the young volunteer who had offered his services for the distribution of meals during the earlier part of the lockdown and who had been dubbed ‘Meneer’ by his fellow-workers. Dressed in his suit for this important occasion, Meneer made a speech and promptly burst into tears, offering to act as Rowena’s ‘Maid-ofHonour’ when the time came for the wedding. No date has yet been set, but given the response of members of the Kleinmond community, many of whom have invited themselves,
there seem to be only two options. Rowena’s preference is for a secret elopement and Grant seems to be tending towards an open-ended free-for-all bun-fight on the beach (once the ban has been lifted), with local street traders setting up their stalls to feed the masses. Born and brought up in Kleinmond, one of seven siblings, single-mom Rowena has a huge extended family, all expecting to be invited, so the second option seems the more practical. Both families appear to be delighted with the match. Grant went the traditional route, asking her father for his daughter’s hand in marriage, while his own mother could hardly believe the unexpected news, since she had given up all hope of Grant ever tying the knot. Now everybody is getting to know everybody else. Most of all, it is going to be a special year for little Robin. On the one hand, he is having fun making friends with Grant’s dogs with whom he’ll be sharing a home, and on the other, he will shortly be starting school for the very first time. Rowena is a colleague of Grant’s at the Municipality in Kleinmond and as such, they have known each other for some time; but it was only last year when they were deeply involved in the food distribution project that the relationship moved to another level. They both love Kleinmond and its people and Grant, who is also on the Overstrand Mayoral Committee, Chair of the local DA caucus and Vice-Chair of the Overberg constituency, says he still has a lot of projects he wants to complete in his ward. The fact that Rowena understands how local government works is a great plus, he says. “But now I’m going to have to become much more disciplined about keeping weekends just for us. There have to be some boundaries to separate work from family time.” And since they both love the outdoors, they’re going to get out into our magnificent natural environment as much as possible. As for the future? They’ll take one day at a time and see where it leads them. The Village NEWS wishes Rowena and Grant all the love and joy in the world – and, of course, expects an invitation to a celebration to beat all celebrations!
LEFT: Crossing the bridge to happiness. Kleinmond lagoon is one of Grant and Rowena's happy places. RIGHT: Stepping stones to Rowena's heart. Grant spells out a romantic proposal on a mountain trail above Kleinmond.
3 February 2021
Province ready to start vaccinations From P1 The president stated that nobody will be forced to take this vaccine. “Nobody will be forbidden from travelling, from enrolling at school, or from taking part in any public activity if they have not been vaccinated. Nobody will be given this vaccine against their will, nor will the vaccine be administered in secret. Any rumours to this effect are both false and dangerous.”
sites will be confirmed over the coming days.
Ramaphosa further announced that government is sourcing vaccines from a number of suppliers. “In addition to the 1 million Covishield doses that we received, we expect another 500 000 doses from the Serum Institute of India to arrive later in February. We have secured 12 million doses in total from the global COVAX facility, which has indicated that it will release approximately 2 million doses by March.
According to him, once this training has been completed, all systems will be in place for Phase 1 of the rollout. Phases 2 and 3 will be significantly more complex due to the larger numbers of people eligible in each phase, and the need to reach people in remote communities across the province.
“We have determined, based on experience, that a single vaccinator can vaccinate between 40 and 50 people a day. We estimate that we will need between 400 and 500 vaccinators for Phase 1. Professional training for vaccinators in the province will begin this week, and we will provide an update once this process has begun,” Winde said.
“We have also secured 9 million vaccine doses from Johnson & Johnson, commencing with delivery in the second quarter. In addition, Pfizer has committed 20 million vaccine doses commencing with deliveries in the second quarter,” he said.
“In Phase 2, we estimate needing to vaccinate up to 2 million essential workers, people in congregate settings and vulnerable groups including people older than 60, and anyone older than 18 with high-risk comorbidities. In phase 3, a further 2.9 million people over the age of 18 will be eligible to be vaccinated.
Premier Winde said the vaccines will undergo quality control processes by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority before they are distributed to the provinces. “We anticipate their arrival in the province after an expected shortened period and stand ready to start the vaccination process. “While we await further information from the national government on how many doses the province will receive, we have identified 105 000 healthcare workers in public, private and civil society settings, who are eligible to be vaccinated. We have already identified 378 public sector sites, at various healthcare facilities where this will be done. Additional private sector
“Our Department of Health is currently working to identify vaccination sites for the 2nd and 3rd roll-out phases, as well as the vaccinators who will be working at each site. Each site and vaccinator must also be accredited. This is the biggest vaccine drive that the province and the country has ever undertaken and we do not underestimate the enormity or the importance of the task ahead of us. This programme will allow us to protect residents against Covid-19 and ensure that we get the balance right between saving lives and livelihoods. We have committed to rolling out the vaccine openly, transparently and ethically,” Winde said.
