By Wilma Jakobsen | Project Leader
Volmoed would not be Volmoed without our amazing, friendly, hard-working, loyal, committed staff who keep the property, buildings, houses, gardens and office maintained, cleaned, organised and beautiful in amazing ways.
This past few months has seen some goodbyes and hellos to staff as some have retired or left to take care of family, and younger staff have joined to help us continue the work. It is sad to say the necessary farewells and we are grateful for all the many years of dedicated service that people gave.
In December Lucas our irrigation and water specialist left to retire to Eastern Cape, and our brave and fearless manager Mathilda left at the end of December to be with family. Zandile joined the office staff in December and Theresa became the managing trustee who held the fort in Mathilda’s place – until new manager Jody joined at the end of January.
Other new staff members Damien and Valentino joined in February. The new energy they staff have brought has been contagious and we are grateful.
There have been infrastructure situations that the staff have been marvelous at resolving, together with the appropriate professional expertise. Even when faced with power outages when lightning struck one of our electricity poles during an unseasonal thunderstorm in February. This was accompanied by several heavy squalls of rain, which washed out ruts in the roads. The electricity took a long time to be restored as the storm was widespread and many were left without power. Then in March there was a burst water pipe underground that took several days to locate and then to fix. Extra water from emergency water tank supplies was pumped into the reservoirs so that our full to capacity guests and residents were able to continue without too much difficulty. Our property manager Serghay worked tireless night and day to ensure solutions were found before too many days went by.
There are also many alien vegetation trees that have had to be cut down as part of the environment program we are in, or because they are old and diseased. The staff cut them into beautiful long picnic tables with legs, as well as benches, that now form a beautiful new picnic space near the river.
Staff have also been busy with various training events, including Health and Safety, snake and snake bite training, and use of power tools. The office was able to upgrade IT systems to make it more streamlined. In March the staff was able to be given a cost of living increase, thanks to donations from different sources.
We are so grateful for all donations received and for the ongoing support from so many.
THANK YOU! GRACIAS! ENKOSI KAKUHLE! BAIE DANKIE! SIYABONGA!
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By Wilma Jakobsen | Project Leader
By Wilma Jakobsen | Project Leader
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