TABLE OF PEACE & UNITY RAISES R1 .00 – NOW TO “SAY THE UNSAYABLE”
It was a day of exhilaration, great entertainment and good food for the 700 people who came to break bread together at the Table of Peace & Unity on Table Mountain this Mother’s Day.
Mother Nature smiled kindly on the day as the sun shone brightly, showing off the tremendous beauty of South Africa’s greatest natural asset and one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. In true Cape tradition, just as the last guests left the rain came bucketing down – but nothing could dampen the spirit of the event.
The Table of Peace & Unity this year has raised R1 .00 to date; monies that will be distributed amongst the selected “City Angels”: individuals, groups and organisations that work with abused, abandoned and vulnerable children, mostly without government assistance. Of this amount, a cheque for R1 million from Checkers and Pioneer Foods was handed over to Christine Cashmore, founder and director of the annual event, towards the fight against child abuse. “More than the money though, we are also receiving offers of assistance”, says Cashmore.”People who would like to organise Tables for next year, people who would like to donate monies and many people who want to join us in our campaign to stop the abuse of our children”.
Cashmore had introduced the national “Say the Unsayable” campaign at the lunch. The radio and print campaign will address the escalating horror of sexual abuse and violence suffered by too many children in South Africa today. “The abuse of a child is actually an assault on us all”, said Cashmore. “We should do anything, everything, in our communities to send a chilling message to the perpetrators that child abuse is a non-negotiable. It diminishes us all as human beings. We have to help save the lives of those who are the very future of this country. Abused children become abusive adults”.
The “City Angels” that will benefit from this years’ event are, in Cape Town, the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation Youth 
Centre, Christine Booysen who works with homeless children in Lavender Hill, the Nceduluntu Sanctuary Trust that provides residential and day care for HIV-positive children, AIDS orphans as well as abandoned and neglected children from the Lwandle and Nomzamo communities, and Little2Much, an Early Childhood Development initiative in Vrygrond. In Kwa-Zulu Natal, Operation Bobbi Bear that works for child victims of sexual abuse; in Johannesburg, the Door of Hope Children’s Mission and COPESSA, and in Port Elizabeth, the Unathi Township Creche – as well as a number of other charities nationally – will receive assistance. For more information about the beneficiaries see www.tableofpeaceandunity.co.za.
Samsung Galaxy was the main sponsor of the Table of Peace & Unity this year, and Checkers donated the food for the event. Donations of R5 can be made to the “Say the Unsayable” campaign by sms-ing the word “Enough” to 36353 – a dedicated line set up by MTN.
Issued on behalf of Gourmetsa by Hippo Communications. For further information contact Beryl Eichenberger at / or Penny Gaines at .