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Our long-awaited family day with sponsors Teekanne (represented by Christian Bergmann), Carmién Tea and the Mouton Foundation present, finally took place this year on a scorchingly hot, though very typical, summer’s day at one of our largest community centres, De Meul.
Due to Covid-19, the planned family get-together for permanent and seasonal workers was postponed, but the project still kicked off in November 2020 with our first cooking classes aimed at promoting healthy nutrition for adults and children and easily adoptable habits towards living a healthy lifestyle. The project was also launched to combat rising issues such as diabetes and hypertension, providing early and ongoing testing for life-threatening diseases, e.g. HIV, TB, and Diabetes, creating awareness and breaking down stigmas around being tested.
Carmen Niehaus, the well-known food connoisseur and cookbook writer, was our host on day one, explaining easy, economical ways to replace expensive or unhealthy/ fast food items with healthier options. The cooking started with the making of iced tea (rather than sugar-loaded fizzy drinks) and then guiding the participants through cooking a series of recipes which they all enjoyed afterwards. Christian (Teekanne) joined in the cooking and picked up a good few Afrikaans words too! Fortunately, the free recipe book each of them received was in English!
Day two arrived with a buzz of workers from every farm and the Mouton and Carmién Tea staff completing the family. The opening ceremony toasted the theme for the day with four glasses of tea instead of champagne to celebrate: Taste the Good Life. Cheers to life. Cheers to Health & Vitality. Cheers to Community and Collaboration.
Johnny Davids was an inspiring MC and events kicked off with The Department of Health taking the runners through some stretching exercises before the fun run. The crowd was treated to a performance by the much-loved Riel Dancers whereafter the sporting event heats started. Touch-rugby, netball, fun-&-games (“boeresport) and tug-of-war created much fun, healthy rivalry and good bonding between the various departments/farms/offices. Of course, our favourite event was the tug-of-war simply because Carmién Tea were the champions! The kids’ corner was another huge success with jumping castles, painting and a waterslide which was definitely the favourite activity although it was only active for a short time due to water restrictions.
Free iced tea and delicious, healthy meals were supplied. A collective clean-up brought an end to a very successful day.