HI ALL
REPORT FOLLOWS BELOW, MAY I AGAIN REQUEST THOS WHO HAVE NOT YET SUBSCRIBED
TO OUR LIST TO PLEASE DO SO. DO NOT SEND ME A MAIL WITH THE WORDS HTTP, NO
USE. Send a blank mail to: blindsacapetown-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:blindsacapetown-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> then simply reply to the
message you receive back without changing anything.\\report below.
BLIND SA PENINSULA
REPORT ON THE 69TH AGM OF Blind SA
INTRODUCTION: the meeting was held from the 24th to the 26th of September at
Stay City Johannesburg. I represented our member organisation as Louis and
Kuanita could not attend, due to their commitments with our annual dinner in
the dark on the 26th of September. On the afternoon of the 24th of
September, a workshop of all member organisations took place to try and
determine why many of the organisations are not functioning correctly.
Cathy Donaldson, President of Blind SA, gave her Presidential speech at the
gala dinner on the evening of the 25th of September.
MEMBER ORGANISATIONS WORKSHOP: Many of our newly formed member organisations
are in rural areas and are experiencing many challenges. Transport is a
major issue and organisations find it difficult to meet and deliver
services. Members often join the organisations for the wrong reasons and
committee members do not serve long enough and later find out that the
organisation cannot tend to their individual specific needs.. More
financial assistance and services are needed in thos areas and there is not
enough money for the organisations to assist. Training for member
organisation Chairs and committee members is sorely needed and the Executive
will give attention to these matters.
OPENING: The meeting was opened by Pastor Leon Swart, also an employee of
Braille Services of Blind SA. He gave a very moving speech and told the
meeting what the organisation means to him personally. He asked God's
blessing on the organisation and prayed that it will continue with its work
for many years to come.
AD HOC COMMITTEE FOR THE RESTRUCTURING OF BLIND SA: the report from the ad
hoc committee for the restructuring of Blind SAis discussed and the
following recommendations are aproved:
1. Member organisations are to compile KPAs determining their key
areas of responsibility and to send to Head Office before the end of
February 2016.
2. The Chair Persons Forum is disbanded as it is felt that it
does not serve any purpose.
3. Member organisations are only allowed to send one
representative to the AGM and not 2 as previously. This does not
necessarily have to be the Chairperson, but preferably one of the member
Organisation's Office bearers.
4. The name of the meeting is changed from the Head Committee
meeting to the Blind SA AGM.
5. A screening committee will be appointed to screen all nominees
for the Executive Committee. A person nominated for the post of Office
Bearer must have served at least a 4 year term on the Executive committee.
6. Representatives from member organisations will from now on
only have 1 vote and not 2 as was previously the case.
7. If a member organisation is unable to attend the entire
meeting, he can appoint a representative.
BRAILLE COMMITTEE: It is decided that Blind SA will start producing material
in DAISY audio.
YOUTH AND STUDENTS COMMITTEE: this committee is disbanded as per previous
Head Committee decision.
CAREERS COMMITTEE: It is proving a problem to visit companies to try and get
them to place visually impaired people. It is decided that a permanent
Careers Officer should be appointed at Blind SA Head office, so that this
person can go out to companies. At the time of the meeting, there were 169
job seekers and only 1 person was placed. Job seekers often do not update
their contact details and member organisations are asked to assist in this
regards. Peninsula will discuss placements with CTSB as they also have a
training centre. A meeting was also held with the Professional Piano
/tuners Association and Blind SA is trying to get training for piano tuners
back on track. This has always been a good direction for blind people and
it is hoped that a training centre can be established again.
CONCLUSION: Thank you for allowing me to attend the meeting on behalf of
Peninsula. In this report, I tried to highlight matters of interest to our
members. Should you require the minutes of this meeting, I can e-mail them
to you or you can approach Blind SA Head Office for Braille or Large XPrint
coppies.
ANDRE VOSLOO
CHAIR BLIND SA PENINSULA
