Back row: Zabeth Zühlsdorff (Rand Aid management), Victor van Eck (son), Nathalie van Eck (daughter-in-law), Ivan van Eck (son) and Phyllis Phillips (Ron Smith’s liaison manager). Front row: Jill Jones and Ethelwynne van Eck.
MY STORY: ETHELWYNNE VAN ECK
Rand Aid’s Ron Smith
Care Centre and Elphin Lodge believe that if a resident has a good story to
tell, it should be shared.
The staff love creating
platforms for residents and staff to get to know each other a little better.
One of the ways this is achieved is through the Eden Alternative ‘My Story’
initiative, in which the wonderful life stories of village and care centre residents
are captured in booklet form, thereby affirming and validating the personhood
of each individual.
On October 26, family,
friends and fellow residents of Ethelwynne van Eck from the Woodlands wing of
Ron Smith Care Centre, as well as various members of staff, gathered for a
celebration tea at which Ethelwynne was presented with her newly-printed
booklet.
Ethelwynne’s
neighbour, Jill Jones, spent many hours with her, recording and writing up her
story from her earliest years to the present day. From family struggles during
the war and post-war days, through university successes and work as a teacher,
to her marriage and a good life with exciting travels and many joyous
occasions.
She
tells of funny experiences in bringing up four children, all of
whom are now graduates with successful careers, and how she became a talented
and very successful artist.
The
charmed good life, however, suddenly came to a halt in August 2015 when she
suffered a stroke which left her right side paralysed. She was devastated as
she now had to rely on others and, worst of all, she could no longer paint.
She
moved to the Ron Smith Care Centre and eventually was introduced to the Tuesday
morning art group at Elphin Lodge. It was here that she started training herself
to draw with her left hand and gradually she started to paint again. She has
set up her room as her art studio and it is there that she spends hours doing
what she loves most – painting in oils.
Her
friend, Jill, commented: “Eth’s fortitude in the face of frustrating
circumstances is something I admire greatly. She deserves all praise for
learning how to use her left hand and being able to paint so beautifully
again.”
Her
son Victor spoke about his mother being initially reluctant to move from her beautiful
home into the care centre but today, he said, she tells him how happy she is
now and how she would not like to live anywhere else.
She
feels that she is well cared for and her life is full, with her friends, her
art, her iPad and continuing interest in the news and world around her. She is
content.
An
example of the work Ethelwynne van Eck is managing to produce using her left
hand.
