Verity's Blog

Pls Help Sisanda Finish Studying

Eden Campus is trying to raise the sum of R11 460 to release one of their students, Sisanda Joko, from a debt to Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Sisanda enrolled at NMMU in 2004 in the belief that she would qualify for financial assistance. However the funding was not granted and Sisanda left NMMU at the end of 2004 with a debt of R8360.

She is now enrolled full time at Eden Campus and since she is not currently employed, has been unable to pay off the debt. With interest running at 15.5% per year, the total debt is currently R11 460. As Eden Campus students register for NMMU accredited courses until such time as it has its own accreditation, Sisanda will not be able to write the end-of-year Marketing exam next week, or re-register for the second year until the debt is paid.

Sisanda has done w ell this year at Eden Campus, has shown considerable personal growth and impressed people with the strength and vitality of her theatrical performance on Youth Day. The fourth of nine children, Sisanda is the first in her family to have the opportunity to continue her studies beyond matric. Sisanda is devastated by the news that she may not be able to continue with her studies.  Nevertheless, she  has been preparing for the exam in the belief that a solution will be found. For NMMU, with its 20000 students, this is just a matter for their credit bureau.  For Sisanda and her family, the debt burden and lost education opportunity would mean devastating poverty for a lifetime.

Please let them know urgently if you can help Sisanda in any way. If 20 people contribute just R575 (approx $80 or £48) each we can give this young woman a chance to continue and finish her studies and make her way into the working world without the burden of a debt.  I have paid a donation of R575 already and another good friend of mine has generously given R2000 so a few more people doing the same will make a HUGE difference for her.

Thanks for taking the time to read this - if you are inspired to 'pay forward' and help Sisanda then please Click below for bank details etc...

Farm Backpackers - Living their Dreams

A few weeks back I headed off for a weekend in Ceres with friends. We decided to take a slow drive the first day and stay wherever our fancy took us. We ended up at the bottom of the Ceres pass and noticed a rusty sign announcing 'The Farm Backpackers'.  Being the adventurous sort, Pete & I headed down a farm road through groves of orange trees until we happened upon the backpackers, nestled on the banks of the Breede River.  It was a rustic looking place with all sorts of eccentricities so we decided to explore.

The next thing around the corner walked a friend of mine & it turned out that just the week before, she and her boyfriend, had packed in city life to come and pursue their dream of running a  backpackers. I was blown away!  Donna & Graham had already gotten the place spic and span and it was awesome to spend the night in one of the rustic farm cottages. We had an evening of laughter and silliness round a big campfire, toasting marshmallows and drinking red wine.

I was really inspired by their courage to leave the life they know and do something completely new. It is an amazing little spot and I can't recommend it highly enough for a group of friends to hire out the weekend - go for walks, swims, hang out round the fire or get fired up in the classic Rusty Bus Bar.  I know we certainly will be heading back there for some more good times....

www.thefarm.org.za   /  +27 (23) 2311415

A Song For My Father

I was 24 years old and living in London when my father suddenly fell ill. The emergency flight home was possibly the most traumatic 12 hours of my life. I was just reaching the age where I could appreciate how much I could learn from my parents and that perhaps I didn’t know everything. I couldn’t fathom life without him, but by the time I got home I only had a few days with him before he passed away.

As a songwriter, I took my pain to my beloved piano and journal. What surprised me most was that even in the depths of my grief and loss, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for how he had lived his life and the example he had been for me. He was a man who faced each day with a twinkle in his eye and had the ability to make even the most mundane task a challenge....

Eden Campus - how 2 help

I have been meaning to write for a while about this, and hope it will pull on your heart strings! 

A few months back I visited Karatara outside of Sedgefield where a free 'university' has been started with the aim to provide quality education and business skills to previously marginalised South Africans in the region.The Campus is a business school focused on developing entrepreneurs and future leaders.

Steve Carver, the founder, has a dream to uplift the whole of Karatara &  turn it into a university town. He hopes the project will grow, eventually impacting the whole of the Garden Route - providing tertiary education to those who cannot afford it, and creating a generation of entrepreneurs who will go out and create their own jobs.  He has been given the abandoned old age home in Karatara as a campus by the  Knysna Municipality ...

Handing over 7 Bursaries

I was invited to MC and perform at the Saartjie Baartman AGM at the end of September. It was great to go back to the centre and see it all dressed up for the occassion. They were celebrating the year they have had and letting their sponsors and board members see the next phase of housing that they are building for women going through the centre.

I got to hand over 7 INTEC Bursaries to the centre director Synovv Skorge and look forward to hearing how it goes with the women who sign up to study!

Miriam Makeba once said these wize words:

"Educate a woman, and you educate a nation. Young girls need our help. We guide them because they are the future mothers of our nation..."

Mimi gets a Bursary

Yesterday my manager (more like Fairy Godmother) Donna met up with Mimi Ntenjwa (our first LYD Artist) in Joburg to hand over a R10,000 Intec Bursary for Mimi to study PR.

I am so excited to be able to help her a little more on her road as a singer and to make sure she realizes her dreams. She wants to study PR so she is clued on publicity and marketing going forward in the music industry. She is also aiming to start a free recording facility in the townships and will need extra business skills to help her getting that going. 

I have set up a LYD Foundation MySpace account where you can hear some of her tracks.  www.myspace.com/liveyourdreamsfund - take a listen...

Flying High

The other day I got the amazing chance to go for a flip in a helicopter with a friend of mine who is living their dream and doing their license.

It was my first experience in a helicopter and let me tell you I was TERRIFIED! It took about 10 minutes for me to relax and realize I wasn't going to fall out the door!

It was a windy day so the ride was bumpy - always good for my nerves. But, we got to see the whole of the peninsula, fly over False Bay and see at least 14 whales and their calves and then over the city bowl and look down at my little house. It was AWESOME! I am so glad to have done it and conquered some of my fear of heights.

If you ever get the chance to see Cape Town from the air - take it and soak up every magic site you get to see!!!

I found these links to check out:

http://cybercapetown.com/Civair

http://www.aboutcapetown.com/air-activities.htm

Meet my band...

I am starting to get a more full time band together which I am just loving! It is awesome to meet for rehearsals and work on the songs and watch them grow.

The longest standing members of my band are the super chilled, unbelievably talented bass player & drummer Helder Gonzaga & Tony Paco from Mozambique.

Helder has been with me since 2004 and truly is the backbone of my band on stage. He knows my songs inside out but still manages to bring something new and fresh every time we play. Tony has also been playing with me since 2004, but it has been a year since we worked together as I was in the States and then he was touring Asia. He recently returned home and was back in the drumming seat in no time.

Next is the very recent addition of Texito Lange who has been drumming for me while Tony was away – also from Mozambique.

Texito is one of the most gentle souls I have ever met, and yet he has so much funk and groove behind the kit! He is really starting to gel with my tunes and has already brought some great new rhythms to some of my older tracks. As the band grows I am hoping he will add his percussion skills to the music  while Tony continues on drums! On top of being generally great, he also has been actively promoting me in Mozambique for us to get booked there, so watch this space.....

Then - on keyboards I have been blessed with massively talented player hailing from  Congo – Nelson Malela! Nelson brings with him a zest and enthusiam for life and music that is infectuous. He is completely dedicated to my project and music and blows me away with his eagerness to rehearse and work on new songs. He plays two keyboards on stage which means we are starting to bring some interesting sounds into the music. With him and Texito working together there is an increasing African flavour to a lot of the tracks!

Ironically, no-one in my band currently is originally from South Africa. I am from Zimbabwe, Helder & Tony & Texito are from Mozambique (speaking Portuguese) and Nelson is from Congo (speaking French). We are an eclectic bunch and are getting to make some really magic music together as it is the only language common to us.  

Singing in The Rain

On September 30th we played a show at the V&A Amphitheatre from 5-6pm. Despite the fact that Cape Town is supposed to be in full Spring mode - it was a freeeeeeeeeeezing  day.  We arrived at the Waterfront around 4pm to start getting ready, and the place was deadly quite with everyone keeping indoors.

The band and I were stomping our feet to try and keep warm and it felt like it was going to be a tough gig... Amazingly though, once we started playing people came out and braved the cold with us. It was incredible to get a very cold crowd warmed up and singing along.  After the first 2 songs I had completely forgotten about the weather and we had a blast. As we finished the last song the heavens opened up and the rain came down - the timing couldn't have been more perfect!!!

Thanks to all the brave people who stomped their feet with us -

including some  local is lekker dudes and foreign visitors!

I am an AMBASSADOR for Education!!!

Here's a complete miracle that happened recently....

I approached the Hennie Louw, the MD of Educor (the largest private education facitility in Africa www.educor.co.za ) to see if I could possibly give a bursary away at a woman's center I was singing at.

The response I got was overwhelming! After reading about what the centre does, he offered me 14 Bursaries valued at R5000 each to award! The power they will have to change these women's lives is beyond description.  I was so blown away by his generosity that I set up a meeting to say thank you and discuss how it would work. In that meeting he informed me that he would like to have me as an ambassador for INTEC and as such would give me 60 bursaries a year (total value R300,000) to give to South African's in need. Educor have also taken on sponsoring all my printing costs for flyers/posters & tshirts – amazing!!!

It is such an incredible honour to be in the position to award education opportunities like I am handing out movie tickets! From the few bursaries I have already awarded this year (Saartjie Baartman, POWA, Mimi Ntenjwa, Carola Samsodien, Lungiswa Sithole & Terence Marawa), it has been fantastic to see how people respond to the news, and how dedicated they are to making full use of the opportunity.

I feel so blessed to have started a project of selling a CD that doesn't exist yet and to have ended up being able to give away education to those who really need it. I always knew I wanted my music to make a difference – but what blows me away is that I am getting to inspire and make a difference and my music isn't even out there yet!

That is the power of committing to something and trusting the magic will show up! Try it.... let me know what happens : )   

www.iamverity.com is where I started my dream & waited for the miracles to show up. This is just one of many...  join me on the journey today & become a Future Owner - it is that easy