This Week - Dalene Bishop of The Teddy Bear Foundation

 This introduction just scratches the service that the Teddy Bear Foundation supplies.  i am sure that Dalene will tell us about other areas where they assist.

The Teddy Bear Foundation’s Medico-legal Clinic is a specialised medical facility for children who have been abused or neglected and a training service for medical professionals working in the child protection field. It is based within the Charlotte Maxexe Academic Hospital, and is run by a multi-disciplinary team of Paediatricians, Doctors, Forensic nurses, Social Workers and volunteers.

Forensic assessments form the basis of court proceedings in convicting perpetrators of violence against children. They take the form of a structured process where the child is engaged through various techniques by our qualified Social Workers. The aim is to elicit information from the child victim regarding the details of an alleged crime and verify these through collateral sources, such as witnesses and other people known to the victim.

The Psychological & Assessment Service was established specifically for children with cognitive disabilities to provide them with fair access to the criminal justice system. In the context of sexual abuse cases, the psychological assessment depends on the psychological questions posed by the court. In most cases, psychological assessments are aimed at determining the victim’s mental age as opposed to their chronological age, their capacity to testify with regard to an alleged crime, and the impact of the trauma on the victims.

Child abuse causes trauma and emotional scars that can have a negative impact on a child’s development and result in long-term consequences. Every victim of child abuse and their family is provided with the opportunity to receive therapeutic counselling and support. This enables the child and family to assume a sense of mastery to cope with the trauma.

We also provide supportive counselling to the caregivers of children who have been abused. In our experience, the better equipped the caregivers are to cope with the trauma, the better equipped they are to support the child through the process.

Last Week

Konrad Kruger, President of the Land Rehabilitation Society of Southern Africa gave us a fascinating talk on what the Society achieves with advice an assistance on land rehabilitation to mining houses who are legally obliged to rehabilitate land after mining comes to an end.  Nowadays it becomes increasingly difficult to enforce the law where this is concerned.

Next Week

We have the excitement of a business meeting.

International - Myanmar

After an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 struck Myanmar in March, killing more than 3,700 people and injuring many more, the Rotary Club of Yangon coordinated a relief effort both at home and at the epicentre near Mandalay, about 400 miles away. The club gathered supplies donated by its members, Mandalay Rotarians,
and other Rotary clubs in neighbouring countries, notably the Rotary Club of Bangkok South in Thailand. In May, a District 3350 delegation to Myanmar brought water purification systems, temporary shelters, and thousands of hot meals. The district committed to providing long-term recovery assistance, including a tube well in Sein Pan, a hard-hit ward in Mandalay. “The project reminded us that Rotary’s strength lies not only in delivering aid but in showing up together across borders with compassion and commitment,” says Thordur Adalsteinsson, a member of the Bangkok club that helped. “The partnership between our club, Rotary Myanmar, and District 3350 brought tangible relief to those in urgent need, but even more importantly, it brought hope and human connection in a time of crisis.”