On Saturday 1 October a Flow team comprising Roshni Nana, Linda Piegl and Julia Lloyd headed off to the TEACH South Africa year-end function at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley-on-Klip, south of Johannesburg.
Flow Communications not only covered the event – we had three articles about it uploaded to the TEACH South Africa website not long after the function was over – but was responsible for the design of the electronic invite, the design and supply of certificates, notepads, pens and thank you cards, as well as a booklet to showcase the 2010 TEACH Ambassadors.
“The booklet was especially challenging as we were working on tight deadlines and had to interview 32 TEACH Ambassadors,” says Roshni. “The printed materials were designed by George Xafis, with assistance from Tina Brown and Neo Male. These incorporated the new TEACH South Africa branding and were by far some of the best work we have produced for them. A special thank you to Ros Caboz for ensuring that all items were delivered on time.”
On the day, Roshni bustled about in typical top-notch style, setting up a workstation for us in the hall, and in no time the three of us were ensconced behind our laptops.
At the function, TEACH South Africa honoured its outgoing Ambassadors who dedicated the past two years to teaching at some of the country’s most under-resourced schools. In reply, a selection of the top Ambassadors reflected on their experience with the organisation.
The stories were fascinating and eye opening, and some quotes were pure gems – a journalist’s dream. It was a race against time to record them in our notebooks, while also attuning our ears to some interesting accents from foreign Ambassadors.
Sadly we were too busy to enjoy the lunch laid on at the spectacular swimming pool but, by the time guests returned to the hall, Linda and I had the morning’s session in the bag, ready for Roshni to upload onto the web. (I also could not resist a quick break that gave me just enough time to sneak a peek at the Academy, which is set in truly stunning grounds.)
In the afternoon, a panel of experts discussed the education crisis in South Africa – some of the statistics were shocking – during which Linda and I were a flurry of pens, notebooks and laptops. But when it closed at 4pm, we needed just 30 minutes to finish off, sub and hand to Roshni for uploading. One quick interview with an up-and-coming, 26-year-old TEACH Ambassador followed and we were done.
“Surely we can call ourselves the Dream Team,” said an elated Linda as we left the Academy just after 5pm. The ever-efficient and unflappable Roshni agreed, but was determined to get going before dark. How right she was – if she hadn’t removed all form of direction-finding from her pair of journalists, she’d still be trying to steer us back to Waverley via Durban.
But Vuyiswa Ncontsa of TEACH South Africa sent a well deserved thank you SMS on Saturday night that made up for our navigational uselessness. “Thanks for all your hard work in making today a success! Where would we have been without you guys. I see that the content is already on our website. Thank you!!!”
The following articles were written and uploaded at the event: