ChaiSouthAfrica has had a very exciting year and today has been in contact with thousands of former South Africans educating them about the tremendous challenges facing the residential Jewish homes in SA ­ We have donors worldwide, with Chai liaison committees all over the USA and in Canada and Europe, and working towards setting up in Israel and Australia.
To date nearly 10 Million Rand has been directed to the 11 homes CHAISA supports- new homes we support are Arcadia( JHB) and Oranjia ( CPT) - both homes for "children in need" - where children are able to live in a safe caring warm Jewish home. These children are "wards of the court" as they have been removed from their parents who are unable, for many reasons, to care for them.
We also support Sandringham Lodge- a home for mentally ill adults in Johannesburg and Savyon Lodge- the Jewish Aged home in Bulawayo.
Government subsides are reduced annually, residents pensions cover less than 15% of the costs, and more than 75% of residents receive some financial support. More than 50 %of residents families live overseas.
One of our major challenges is to try and increase our database of ALL former South Africans living overseas so we turn to you, our San Diego friends to help us and forward names, addresses, emails and telephone numbers of your family and friends living out of South Africa. We are so grateful for the financial support you all have shown us through your donations and tributes over the years ­ I really feel we can and have made a difference. We are so grateful to the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego who administer the fund and support ChaiSouthAfrica in so many different ways.
Below you will find some moving edited articles and letters we have received directly from some of the homes.
PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CHAISOUTHAFRICA.COM FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

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From Oranjia:

Please accept my apologies for not having replied to you sooner. This was due to final decisions that was taken by the Executive Committee in regard to the future of Oranjia.

Due to our financial crisis, we had to unfortunately take a decision to sell one of our houses in order for us to reduce our deficit. The implications of us having to do this is that we have to deregister with the Department of Welfare from 20 children to 10, which will then reduce our income from the Department which is currently R20,000.00 per month to R10,000.00 per month. Also, as a result of this decision, it would mean that if we find ourselves in the situation of having 10 children in residence and should there be a need for further admissions, we would have no alternative but to refuse.

This year we are faced with 5 children who are in Matric of which 3 would be continuing with tertiary education. One child who is currently at University and who is still in our care would have to move into after-care next year. This obviously is an added expense and we would have look towards the community for assistance as the Department of Welfare no longer assist us with children who are in tertiary education. If we do not find financial assistance we would have to then look at placing the children back home with their families, which would end up being disastrous for these children.

This is a very trying time for Oranjia, because we do believe that we have over many years given one of the best services in the country in regard to child care. Over the past 20 years very few of the children who have gone through our portals, have needed welfare assistance as adults.

Our Fund-Raising Committee have been very active. The Chairman of the Fun-Raising Committee who is a 'Wine Maker', made up his own blend and bottled wine for Pesach with the Oranjia Logo. To date that has raised R45,000. Also we recently held our year Friends of Oranjia Club Draw, convened by Mr. Abe Sank, which raised R80,000. The Winner of the Friends of Oranjia Club Draw very generously donated his winnings of R10,000 back to Oranjia.

Claire, I know you only wanted 2 paragraphs, but I felt that I needed to advise you of our current situation, which has been very stressful for our Committee and has caused a bit of anxiety with the children as they are aware that the drastic cuts are having to take place.

With warm Oranjia greetings,

Yours sincerely
Jean Mausembaum
ADMIN. DIRECTOR

CELEBRATING SHAVUOTH IN A DIFFERENT WAY ­ THE SELWYN SEGAL WAY
An article published in the Jewish Press Johannesburg- June 2004
The prime significance of Shavuoth today lies in its commemoration as an anniversary of the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, when Moses received the Ten Commandments. It is climaxed at Mount Sinai with spiritual freedom embodied in the Torah.
The Children of Israel having established themselves in the Land of Israel, were obliged to present themselves before the L-rd at His Temple in Jerusalem on Chag Ha-Pesach, Chag Ha-Shavuoth and at Succoth time.
As the Temple is no longer in existence, today the Jewish communities throughout the Diaspora, adapt symbolically these events in their respective synagogues at Shavuoth time. How does this affect the Jewish handicapped person living in our midst?
Mental retardation is a condition with which we have been living since civilization began. Unfortunately, the same civilization has not dealt kindly with the handicapped individual living in its midst. Often shunned and excluded from events of daily living, left to blunder on in a non-caring environment. One of the major factors in today's society is the establishment of special groups and thought patterns in providing outreach programmes in order to help retarded persons and their families to participate in religious services and practices. Suffice to state that the reson d'etre of the Selwyn Segal Centre is its religious observances.
We have successfully established a special way of linking the handicapped person with his religious identification. We have developed special skills and styles which bring to life our spiritual customs and beliefs.
The first night of Shavuoth was a further occasion which linked the Jewish mentally retarded with the age-old practices and customs. They presented the Ten Commandments at a dinner gathering.
Moses dressed in all his finery arrived with a Decalogue followed by each boy and girl bringing forth the Ten Commandments. It was "their way" of observing the Festival of Shavuoth.
In many Sephardic congregations prior to the Reading of the Torah, on the first day of Shavuoth, A "Ketuba L'Shavuoth" (marriage certificate on Shavuoth) is read as a symbolic betrothal of G-d and his people, Israel. Similarly on the first night of Shavuoth, the Selwyn Segal children of Israel re-affirm their Selwyn Segal manifesto that states they are indeed part and parcel of the Jewish people and by presenting the Ten Commandments on that occasion, is testimony of their everlasting membership to the aged-old people of Israel.
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Glendale Home for the Mentally handicapped- Cape Town-

Many thanks for your email just received. The only message I have for you and the contributors to Chai is that our finance is in dire straits and we have now come to the stage were we have difficulty meeting our commitments. All assistance will be received with much gratitude.

Today is Friday so we wish you all Shabbat shalom.

Kind regards

Solly Greenstein

Savyon Lodge Bulawayo

Hi Claire

"We send kind regards to you and all at Chai SA.
One of our recent wonderful experiences was the opportunity to celebrate the 105th birthday of our very special resident "Uncle" Leizer Abrahamson on 2nd April this year. We had a wonderful party for him that was attended by almost the whole Bulawayo Jewish Community. Everybody is so proud to be part of the life of such a remarkable man. The highlight of the celebration was the meaningful speech made by Uncle Leizer.
We hosted the first night Seder for the residents and some members of the community. A lovely evening was had by the 50 people who attended.
Our particular challenge that we are facing, as always, is coping in the face of spiraling inflation. Inflation is at about 800% at the moment and we are finding it continually difficult to "come out" each month. As you know we run the lodge as a fully kosher establishment and as such our expenses are much higher than other homes here who are in the same situation as us. At this moment our expenses each month total about Z$ 26 000 000. More of our residents are finding it difficult to pay the fees that go up quite frequently, and we are having to subsidize them, which continues to add to our expenses. We have recently been advised that our staff salaries will soon have to be increased by 200%.
But as always we will continue to run Savyon Lodge in the way, that as far as we possibly can, we do not drop the standards that our residents are used to."

Kind regards
Theresa Bengis

From: Beare Holdings DURBAN
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004

I am not sure why certain people have the idea that the three main trusts / foundations are taking care of all of Durban's needs. While they are making big contributions to the UCF and direct to other organizations there are still big shortfalls due mainly to our diminishing community. Let me site some examples:

1. Beth Shalom has an operating deficit of approximately R2 million per annum. They received R700 000 from the UCF and therefore they rely heavily on donations, etc. For the coming year the UCF is diverting approximately R200 000 from Beth Shalom to the Durban Jewish Social Services (DJSS) thereby reducing their contribution to R500 000.

2. DJSS (which supports Jewel House for the handicapped) has a shortfall of approximately R1.3 million after receiving contributions from the three main foundations. The UCF allocated R900 000 and is diverting another R200 000 as mentioned above.

.the three foundations cannot be expected to fund the needs of all the community.

The contributions from CHAI-SA are very meaningful as far as Beth Shalom is concerned and plays an important part in meeting their deficit.

Please inform Claire Ellman that she is free to contact me at any stage and I will try and go into more detail with her. I regret that the people you mentioned do not have a proper view of the situation.

Kind regards.

Yours sincerely

Alec