Verity's Blog

Talk at Saartjie Baartman Centre

Since committing to raise awareness about woman abuse in South Africa, I have run into so many incredible initiatives that are making a difference and empowering survivors of abuse. I was invited by an organisation called Infinite Woman to talk and perform at a fund raising event for The Saartjie Baartman Center in Mannenberg in Cape Town back in July. (Apologies for taking so long to post a story about it!)

Infinite Woman have nominated the centre as their charity of choice and were having the event to celebrate their partnership. Patricia DeLille was a guest speaker and attended the event in her capacity as an empowered South African woman and not a politician. I was invited along to sing and talk about the power of our dreams to shape our future. It was pretty daunting to stand up and share my beliefs with women who come from situations that are sometimes beyond comprehension.

The amazing thing for me, was that as I started to talk I shifted the focus from what I had planned and started to share from my personal experiences in relationships that didn't serve me and how I had empowered myself to start making different choices. From there I could explore the opportunity we have to acknowledge our past but choose not to have it determine where we go.

Live Your Best Life Gig

The band and I got to perform at a very special evening recently for an organisation called Infinite Woman that was raising money for the Saartjie Baartman Centre. The theme was - 'live your best life' – come as yourself in 10 years time and spend the entire evening talking about all the things you have achieved, seen, done etc.

The premise – if you act as if it has already happened, then life will deliver it to you!

My day started on a tricky note, when I realised I need a ballgown and discovered my wardrobe was sadly lacking in such attire. Never one to be discouraged I thought what the hell and called up Hip Hop and asked if they fancied dressing me for the night. To my delight they said yes and within 20minutes disaster was averted and I had been decked out in this lavish affair!

Thanks HIP HIP - you guys were awesome!

We had a blast on stage and I chatted to the audience about how incredibly well the Lucky Packet Project had done back in 2006 with 5000 Future Owner's buying the album and creating it with  me. I remembered our first sold out world tour, the interview with Oprah, the grammies, the fun! I spoke about how much awareness we had raised for POWA and how awesome it is that now in 2016 Woman Abuse is not the huge problem it once was. I spoke proudly of how wonderfully Live Your Dreams is doing as a foundation and how many hundreds of artists we have helped to get out there and shine!

All it all it was an epic evening and a fantastic exercise in feeling yourself already where you want to be and acting as if you cant fail because it has already happened! TRY IT SOMETIME – IT IS AWESOME....

First POWA Payout!!!

After my visit to POWA I was armed with a list of what POWA needs for their two shelters I headed off to go shopping! Being totally new to Joburg it was daunting to say the least heading off into the traffic with Donna's car. I ended up at Mr Price Home Store in Sandton City and decided that was as far as I was going to go on my own! I spent the next two hours entertaining the staff with the epic task of buying dinner sets, cutlery and linen. My wonderful helper was Yvonne who loved helping me choose duvet coverts and dinner set designs.

There was one woman looking at linen with me, and when we started chatting I discovered she was buying stuff for a children's home outside of Joburg. It was weird to say the least  that we ended up next to each other with such similar tasks to do. Because I was quite a spectacle with all the linen spread around me, quite a few people stopped me to ask why I was buying so many duvet covers and I told them about POWA and the shelter. One woman just threw her arms around me and hugged me saying how grateful she was to know that artists were commited to helping abuse survivors. It was quite emotional – hugging a complete stranger and connecting on the level of wanting to help those in SA who are less fortunate than us.

The next day, loaded with my purchases I got to do my first charity payout to POWA in the form of linen and crockery for their Westrand Shelter. It was amazing to arrive at their headquarters and then get driven by Desmond (their dedicated driver for getting women to the shelters/court/out of abusive homes) to the shelter.

The location of each shelter is highly confidential, as many of the women there are in danger of their husbands killing them. It really brought home to me how tragic the cycle of abuse can become! On getting there I got to meet the two incredible women who run the shelter. They were over the moon with the duvets and dinner set and shared with me that until our donation they had been sharing 1 teaspoon between 10 women. It defies comprehension for those of us who have drawers filled with cutlery and basis neccesities.

Visiting POWA HeadQuarters

I recently flew up to Joburg for a week's visit for press interviews and to do my first POWA payout. Since I have sold nearly 800 Future CD's, there is quite a bit of cash available to give to POWA.

Donna (my fabulous manager) collected me from the airport and after a quick lunch we headed to the POWA headquarters in Berea. It was quite an introduction to Joburg for me, as they are situated in the heart of Hillbrow and the surrounding area is pretty run down and poverty striken. It was really great to finally meet some of the people responsible for keeping POWA going and to see where they work.

They have 3 houses that their offices and counciling rooms are spread between. Carrie Shelver – who heads up training and public awareness – Nehwoh & Catherine gave us a quick tour and some insight into the incredible work they do for women getting out of abusive situations, from psychological councilling, to legal advice, to getting them into an anonymous shelter if they are in danger.

Future Owner is CHIEF SURVIVOR!!!

As our first South African Survivor in Panama hit the screens there was huge excitement to see how it all pans out. The biggest hype has been around who would get the prestigous job of hosting the show...

Imagine my delight to discover that a good friend of mine from the acting world, and Future Owner #146 - 147 ,Mark Bayly had landed the job!

I am so happy for him and cant wait to see his career soar. It is great to know that people on the Future Owner's list are out there living their dreams and flying high!

If you aren't on already, join immediately – it is a REALLY good list to be on. You will be in great company. www.iamverity.com/order.htm

I am still working with filmmakers Lungiswa Sithole and Yvonne Hart on the documentary “Our Own Stories in Our Own Voices”. After my initial visit to Atlantis on youth day in June, I recently headed out there again to start working more intensely with the girls in the program. The aim was for me to help them write a song about their experiences as teens in South Africa.

My amazing keyboard player Nelson, joined me for the day and was on hand to help with playing while we sang. There was a whole film crew there and it was daunting to say the least to sit down at a table with a camera on me and try to start writing a song. These things generally happen organically so under pressure it was interesting to try and keep the creative process flowing...

Fab Feminar with Reto!

Finally – after months of trying to get it together, I got the winner of the Lucky Packet Prize of a FEMINAR with top SA stylist RETO and 9 of her friends to come and enjoy a crazy, champagne filled afternoon with Reto in his salon in Clovelly.

Inky Dresner, Future Owner 162, and I have been battling to lock off a date that worked for her and Reto, so I was relieved when 14 August was settled on!

We managed to put together some great goodie bags with hair products, magazines and the kind addition of Elixir  sample packs to pamper the ladies with.

I didn't really know what to expect, other than the fact that Reto is the funkiest hair stylist you will ever meet and I was sure he would create magic.

The afternoon was all about him giving Inky and her friends styling and make-up tips. Now that might sound boring as hell, but Reto could truly be a stand up comedian in the way he will lay into someone's split ends and bad hair cut & point out the scary 80's throw backs in our make-up routines.

Inside of his humour is the desire to really help people see their own unique beauty and potential and he has a knack of doing just that.

UJfm - injecting energy into Lucky Packet

While still in Jozi, I heard that the University of Johannesburg is play listing Wherever Love Goes – so happy to hear that!

They asked for me to come in for an interview while I was still in town, so Donna rushed me through there before my interview with Bryan Hattingh. It was another epic task to find our way through the university corridors, but we finally located their radio station UJfm! We were met by a DJ who like me, goes simply by - Marc...

Radio 2000 helping me reach 5000!

On Wednesday 6^th September I got to see what the main aim of my trip to Joburg was for. Donna and I found ourselves in the foyer of the SABC building at 6.45pm waiting to be met by Bryan Hattingh – a presenter of a great programme called Risky Business on Radio 2000.

Stonewall are helping BUILD my CD

In August I had my first batch of CD's sold to a company as corporate gifts! Stonewall + Digital Marketting bought 40 Future Copies that they then sent out to all their clients as a gift. That way they get to support an exciting initiative and give their clients the gift of getting to create a CD and contributing to two charities as they go!

Thanks so much to everyone at Stonewall for supporting my dream and vision so completly. It is encouraging to have a leader in the IT world getting behind me and giving a big thumbs up for The Lucky Packet Project!!!

I am excited to encourage companies to buy batches and help us hit 5000 future owners asap! Let me know if you have ideas of people to approach!!! Or better still – get your boss to visit www.iamverity.com and see how awesome it is.