SPCA Open your eyes and sterilize campaign
Emily-BuchananEighty two guests attended the SPCA ‘Book Fest’ at The Links Clubhouse on Thursday 3rd September. This event was held to raise funds through showcasing the work of three authors and a publisher from ‘Modjaji Books’ – an independent press publishing the work of South African women.

Emily Buchanan, a partner at Modjaji Books who lives in Cape St Francis, opened the morning with an inspirational talk about the power of women as readers, writers and publishers.

Pricilla Holmes – author of a debut novel: ‘Now I See You’

Pricilla Holmes – author of a debut novel: ‘Now I See You’

She was followed by author Pricilla Holmes, author of ‘Now I see You’ – a thrilling detective novel set in the Drakensberg Mountains, based loosely upon the factual story of a girl from a rural village whose identity was altered after she was chosen as the first member of her community to be educated. This girl becomes a Detective Inspector and is forced to confront her roots when she is sent back to her village to investigate a murder.

Rosemary-SmithRosemary Smith, author of ‘Swimming with Cobras’, read aloud from her beautifully written memoir about moving from England to South Africa in the mid-60s. At first, she found this new land alienand strange until she and her husband settled in Grahamstown where Rosemary joined the Black Sash and, through this involvement, made the transition to becoming a true South African.

The third author, Tiah Beautement, was born and raised in Oregon in the Tiah-BeautementUSA. Married to a South African, Tiah lives in the Southern Cape on the Garden route with their two children, a dog named Orwell and a flock of chickens all named Eva. ‘This Day’ is Tiah’s second novel, a book about a woman suffering from loss, left alone to care for a husband who is clinically depressed. Set in Mossel Bay, this searing, sensitive novel is about the tenacity of the human spirit.

The SPCA St Francis Bay Fund-raisers who organized this event were able, through ticket sales, raffle tickets and a hugely enjoyable book auction, to net a total of R19 000.00.

This money has been deposited with vets who participate in the ‘Open Your Eyes and Sterilize; program aimed at sterilizing dogs and cats from the informal settlements of St Francis Bay, Humansdorp and Jeffrey’s Bay.

This brings the total funds raised by the SPCA Fund-Raisers to R56 000 for the year so far which means approximately 112 dogs/cats have been sterilized in the period from January 2015 when the ‘Open Your Eyes and Sterilize’ Campaign was launched.

A number of SPCA events are planned between now and the busy year-end season to maximize efforts to increase sterilization in the townships in our area.

Note to interested readers who did not attend the SPCA Book-Fest” fund raiser. You can read a review of the books presented at the book fest at St Francis Links last Thursday on St Francis Today’s “St Francis Today – Readers Corner“.

Article by Sue Rae Fox


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