Ho ho ho!
Like
Mohamed Ali so often said,” The champ is here!” well, I say, “Algoa
Toastmasters, Port Elizabeth is here, with a BANG!”
It’s my
favorite time of the year, Christmas Time.
I am not
sure what the Christmas season means to, you as an individual and what it is
that you are celebrating. For me, the exchange of gifts, travelling and rest
from work for many of us, reminds me so much of the biggest gift that our
Heavenly father gave to all humanity, his only son Jesus Christ. So go on and
give those gifts, and give me some also.
I am sooo
sad though that, today, the 8th December 2015 is our last meeting
for the year, however, never fear when Algoa Toastmasters is near, as the 12
January 2016 is coming soon when we will meet again, so don’t cry South Africa.
Intelligent
people always say be very careful what you do to your children as they will
have those memories for the rest of their lives.
I decided
to go down memory lane and find out how people celebrated Christmas when they
were children and I was amazed at the precise answers that I received from the
speakers as they still remembered like they were kids, not so long ago.
I had the
honor, privilege and grace of being the Madam Toastmaster for this particular
night. Obviously with the support of my wonderful fellow toastmasters. I am a
music lover, or “musaholic”, my new invented word and to me, such a supportive
and synchronized environment at Algoa Toastmasters reminds me so much of my
favourite songs that I love to dance to. For instance, the song, “We are the
World”, to mention just one. I enjoy that song so much and sing along to all
the different singers and instruments. I hardly ever think of the fact that in
order for that particular song to sound so beautiful, different people have to
come together and each one had to play their part skillfully to make the song
what it is, people such as:
•
Producers
•
Instrumentalists
•
Singers of various parts
•
Etc.
If one of
the above mentioned is out of sync, the song will not sound as beautiful as it
should. Instead it will sound like a horse is singing and you don’t want to
hear that.
Trust me,
any meeting at Algoa, to me is like a beautiful, sounds of music, because we
all love, support, encourage and help one another become the best that we can
be and I am forever thankful I joined this club.
Our
prepared speeches by Zikona, Deborah, Louise and Megan were outstanding and I
felt like I was in parliament as the above speeches were very well researched
by all the speakers If you want to learn
life’s lessons at a minimal cost, this is the place to be, definitely. Just to
bring music to your ears and make you feel like you were at the meeting....
From the
first speaker: Zikona, I learnt many ways and means of saving electricity. Just
imagine if we all as South Africans adopted this mentality of saving
electricity instead of wasting it. I believe we would have no need of load
shedding. Just a few lessons, such as:
•
Using energy saving light bulbs
•
Switching off your lights when you don’t need them, e.g., don’t light
the whole house when you are stationed only in one room and
•
Switching off the unused electricity utensils, such as televisions,
radios, etc….
Mom Z. I
think they must give you a slot on SABC to spread this message………
The second
speaker, Deborah taught us the pros of line dancing as there are no cons, and I
believe her. This dancing can be done by people of all ages, body sizes and
shapes, no discrimination and my goodness, it’s beautiful. I am definitely in
as I am not a fan of any other types of exercise. It is fun, everybody can join
in and have a blast at the same time. This funky and life loving lady is 64
years old herself but she looks, not a day older than 46, now I know why.
Thank you
Mom D.
Now this
lady, our third speaker Louise, came up with quite a touchy yet profound topic:
Men’s health. Isn’t this the most neglected, yet necessary topic to talk about?
I certainly think so. I would like to appeal to all ladies to please encourage
the men in their lives - brothers, husbands, boyfriends, the works, to go for
those regular checkups because “prostate cancer” is killing our men just the
same way that breast cancer is these days.
You see,
men are not like us women because we can meet as strangers at any bathroom and
show each other our scars and stretches and by the time we leave the bathroom,
we are friends and have given each other therapy. Well, men are not quite like
that, they can be quite shy to share their weaknesses and illnesses, hence I am
appealing to you ladies to help them as this is easy for most of us to do.
Well done
Sis L.
Our fourth
and final speaker for the night was Megan. Now! I for one am not an easily
trusting person, I have to really know you before I tell you my heart. When I
came to Algoa Toastmasters however, it did not take me long to let my guard
down, when I realized the calibre of people surrounding me. Megan was proof of
this when she bravely shared a true and emotional story. Well done to you
toasters for being, like Dr. Phil, so profoundly puts it, such a “soft place to
fall”
Megs you
rock and roll
As I
mentioned earlier, Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, however, as we
have fun at the beach, travelling and meeting new and interesting people, I
would like to appeal to everybody to please be on the lookout of dodgy
characters and don’t find yourself a victim. Parents, please watch your
children like hawks and don’t let them out of your sight and please don’t trust
anybody with your precious children.
If you are
enjoying yourselves at the beach, please only swim at demarcated areas and
don’t give life guards a tough time. You don’t want to be a Christmas lunch for
sharks as, believe me, they too know that it’s Christmas time and they will get
free Kentucky which could be your leg. Don’t let that happen to you.
From my
side till next time, have a blessed 2015 and a prosperous 2016!
CIAO FOR
Now, signing off:
Thandi Swekile
