Holy Rosary School teacher Barbara Cooper gave her Grade 7 girls a
project… To write a letter to a grandparent. The aim was for them to learn how
to write and correctly format a friendly letter.
Barbara hoped the letters would provide enjoyment to some of the
residents at Rand Aid Association’s Ron Smith Care Centre, but they did not
expect any replies – of which they received a few!
Ron Smith Care Centre sent the names of 58 of its care centre residents
to Barbara, who tasked the girls to write a personal letter to each of them.
Strict Covid-19 protocols were observed in terms of sanitising the
girls’ desks, pens and other stationery and envelopes, and the letters were
delivered to the care centre on 6 April.
“I personally delivered the letters to each resident with an Easter
chocolate, which everyone enjoyed. I wanted to explain who had written their
letter and to witness and record our residents’ reactions,” says Debbie
Christen, Rand Aid’s manager of recreational services.
“It was a fascinating project to see 12- and 13-year-olds writing to
elderly people, mostly in their 80s and 90s, as there’s a large generation
gap,” she adds.
Debbie explains that the youth of today don’t often write letters. They
are used to texting and using acronyms and emojis to communicate. “This
wonderful project taught them how to compose a letter and how to express
themselves using full sentences,” says Debbie.
As some of the care centre’s residents do not have contact with young
people, they didn’t understand the concept of online versus onsite schooling,
so it needed to be explained to them.
“There is potential for developing the project to involve students and
residents becoming pen friends and possibly visiting with each other after
Covid-19,” says Debbie.
“We have several former school teachers who received letters and said it
was most interesting to see their responses,” she adds.
Many of the residents commented on the students’ lovely, neat print
handwriting, which led to the observation that children don’t seem to learn
cursive writing these days – they all print.
“This led to residents having memories of how they had to learn cursive
writing in their school days and they remembered the pen strokes they had to
learn in their writing class,” says Debbie.
“Residents were asked if they wanted to read the letter out loud or if
they preferred to be read to. This was a good opportunity for me to assess
their reading ability and comprehension. Many enjoyed reading out loud. Some
residents spontaneously stated that they were going to write back,” says
Debbie.
Some special
responses
Marie Roberts
from River Lodge 1 received a letter from Shac Lee du Plessis.
“How sweet,” said Marie. “She wouldn’t believe all the things I’ve been
through in my life. At 98, I’ve seen two World Wars, political and economic
upheaval and I’ve had Covid-19, but I’m still here. My niece said they’d have
to feed me arsenic to get rid of me,” she laughs.
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| Marie Roberts. |
Cecilia Lombard
from River Lodge 1 received a letter from Anastacia (Annie).
Cecilia is blind. “Annie has blessed me with her beautiful letter. I
love her! Tell her I enjoy nature and gardens,” said Cecilia.
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| Cecilia Lombard. |
Joy Klopper from
River Lodge 1 received a letter from Megan Wadsworth.
“What a gorgeous letter – it’s too beautiful! Thank you,” said Joy.
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| Joy Klopper. |
Sylvia Kree from
River Lodge 1 received a letter from Raquel De Matos.
“This letter makes me feel all shivery because she took the time to
write such a caring letter. I want to cry. She’s brought me such joy today,”
said Sylvia.
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| Sylvia Kree. |
Maureen Morrow
from River Lodge 1 received a letter from Rania Kalogerakis.
Maureen smiled throughout reading the letter, especially when she heard
about Rania’s irritating brothers!
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| Maureen Morrow. |
Sarah Richards
from River Lodge 2 received a letter from Carmen Wasowicz.
“I am so thrilled to receive this letter. What a delightful surprise.
Look at how lovely she has decorated the envelope and her handwriting is so
lovely and straight. It gives me a soft feeling. She is a very special little
girl. This is going straight up on my wall and I am going to show this letter
to my grandchildren who are coming to visit,” said Sarah.
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| Sarah Richards. |
Eddie Lazer from
River Lodge 2 received a letter from Annie.
Eddie read the letter on his own and was smiling throughout. “Very
sweet. I appreciate this. I will write
back,” said Eddie.
Delyse Burgess
from River Lodge 2 received a letter from Sabrina.
“This letter is gorgeous and made my day. What a delightful surprise! I
don’t know how this happened, but Sabrina is my granddaughter Donna’s friend.
Can you believe it? I was craving something sweet with my tea and now I’ve got
it,” said Delyse.
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| Delyse Burgess. |
Denise Anstey
from River Lodge 2 received a letter from Isabella Fernandez.
“Lovely letter. She writes well. I would like to write her back,” said
Denise.
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| Denise Anstey. |
David Scott from
River Lodge 3 received a letter from Tyra-Jane Davies.
Debbie read Tyra-Jane’s letter to David when he was sitting in the
Lounge.
Fellow resident Grace Verster was sitting next to him and she
immediately leaned in closer so that she could also enjoy the letter. She was
hanging onto every word and taking in Debbie’s explanations. Because she was so
interested in the letter, she even scored an Easter egg!
Dave said it was very nice, thank you, and shook Debbie’s hand.
Joy Smith from
Cedar Park received a letter from Claire Thompson.
“What a lovely letter. I know the school well. I love the flowery
stationery and the way she decorated the envelope,” said Joy.
In response to the advice written on the envelope (live your life to the
fullest), Joy said we are all very lucky to be living in a peaceful time, not
having to experience the horrors of war.
She added that Ron Smith Care Centre is a beautiful place to live and to
be well.
She enjoys the sunshine and the rain to the fullest whenever she can.
When she was given the Easter egg, her eyes lit up and she said: “Oh yes! Yes!
Yes! I’m going to enjoy this.”
Then she very nimbly opened the little wrapper and polished off the
chocolate in one go.
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| Joy Smith. |
Mick Veltman
from Cedar Park received a letter from Tawana Zifamba.
“I know where her school is. She has nice handwriting. It’s a lovely
letter. She is gifted and I like the artwork on the envelope. I would like to
write back. It is nice to know that I can still do something that may bring joy
to someone that I don’t even know,” said Mick.
“When Mick said this, I immediately thought how wonderful it would be if
we could set up a pen pal project and get letters going back and forth and
perhaps even set up a visiting programme after Covid-19,” says Debbie.
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| Mick Veltman. |
Doreen Woodward
from Cedar Park received a letter from Nolwazi.
“This is a lovely letter and she has such beautiful handwriting. I know
Holy Rosary School well,” said Doreen.
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| Doreen Woodward. |
Marge Trinder
from Lakeside received a letter from Dunsin Ajagunna.
Marge’s grandchildren attended Holy Rosary and had similar interests to
Dunsin. She remarked on the lovely printing, beautiful drawings and the fact
that children don’t seem to write in cursive anymore – they all print.
Debbie had a discussion with her about penmanship and how cursive
writing used to be learnt in school.
Dunsin said children don’t usually write letters, they text and
WhatsApp. This comment sparked a conversation about how we learnt how to write
business and friendly letters at school and the parts of a letter, said Debbie.
When Dunsin used the phrase: “On the otherhand,” Marge remarked how
grown up she sounded and that she was only 11! Marge laughed about Dunsin
having to wash the dishes at home during lockdown and about the fact that there
was no cheating with online schooling!
Marge very enthusiastically stated that she must write back and even got
her daughter, Marion McKinnon, who is the headmistress at St Benedict’s, to
deliver her letter to Holy Rosary.
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| Marge Trinder. |
Gladys Rosenberg
from Lakeside received a letter from Abigayle Danckwerts.
“Look how nicely this is written! What she said about her gorgeous
grandfather reminds me of how much my grandchildren adored their grandfather,”
said Gladys.
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| Gladys Rosenberg. |
Louise Newman from
Lakeside received a letter from Daniele Jansen van Rensburg.
Louise liked the colours in the lovely butterfly stationery. She loves
fabric painting and colouring-in, so she is very aware and appreciative of
colour, form and design. “Such a lovely thought to write this letter – it is
very special. Thank you,” said Louise.
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| Louise Newman. |
Ellen Quinn from
Lakeside received a letter from Tonith Ally Horsten.
“Beautifully done – she writes well! Shall I write back and then I can
tell her a thing or two about me,” said Ellen.
Her responses to Tonith’s statements were as follows:
* The advice on the envelope ‘smile/do something nice
for someone everyday: Ellen said: “I do have lots to smile about. This is just
the best place to live. I don’t have to do the dishes!”
* Tonith: “It’s horrible to have to wear masks!” Ellen:
“I agree with you, girl.”
* Tonith: “What I liked about lockdown was the luxury of
being able to sleep in in the mornings.”
Ellen: “And me too, girl. I love to sleep in!”
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| Ellen Quinn. |
Sylvia Lasarow
from Lakeside received a letter from Kirsten Ayer.
Sylvia wrote a letter back to Kirsten, thanking her for an interesting
letter which she so enjoyed reading. She said her letter was ‘charming’.
Sarah Goldberg
from Woodlands received a letter from Angelina Joseph.
“A lovely, sweet letter. Very precious! I’m going to show my daughter.
It’s lovely how youngsters these days just come out and say what they want to
say,” said Sarah, who laughed when Angelina said that her brothers are the most
annoying people on earth.
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| Sarah Goldberg. |
Brian Russell from Woodlands received a letter from Catarina Braga.
“How delightful! I will definitely write back even though I haven’t written an actual letter in a very long time,” said Brian.
Brian was the first person to write back, no doubt having always practiced his generation’s letter–writing etiquette of responding to letters promptly.
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| Brian Russell. |
Henriette
Oosthuizen from Woodlands received a letter from Isabella Willems.
Her immediate response: “There aren’t any spelling mistakes. How
unusual!” Spoken like a true former teacher, Henriette said she loved working
with the Grade 7s. “They were on the edge of being a teenager; they wanted to
be grown up, but they were still children,” she said.
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| Henriette Oosthuizen. |
Jill Jones
received a letter from Kate O’Donohue.
“How lovely! I’m definitely going to write back, but I’ll use my
computer. My handwriting isn’t that good anymore,” said Jill, who was the
second person to write back.
Jill wrote three-page letter and sent another page of photos of herself,
Annie (her cat) and art projects she has completed. She used to teach
geography.
Ethelwynne van Eck from Woodlands received a letter from Chloe Ullbricht.
Debbie left her to read the letter on her own, but she was already
laughing at what Chloe had written on the envelope: “Life is something you will
never forget!”
Ethelwynne used to teach biology.
Beth
(Nanna) Roberts from River Lodge 3 received a letter from Andrea Adonis.
Nanna
is a former English teacher who was very involved in teacher training and
developing reading programmes for children.
She
read Andrea’s letter out loud (with great expression) and responded: “How nice
to receive this letter – what a lovely surprise! Andrea sounds very grown up and wrote this
letter so nicely!”
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| Beth (Nanna) Roberts. |
Sue Bohmke received a letter from learner Jenna Shaw.
“How sweet! What a blessing. I will write her back. I need
some paper and an envelope,” said Sue.
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| Sue Bohmke. |
Cathy Basterfield received a letter from leaner Vittoria
Zambon.
“I’m very happy to receive this letter and chocolate. Thank
you,” said Cathy.
 |
| Cathy Basterfield. |
