New focus a live wire for LifeLine
27 October 2010
The conference is also a triumph for Nelson Mandela Bay, which is aiming to grow its conferencing and meetings industry, said Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism (NMBT) chief executive, Mandlakazi Skefile.
“We are pleased the city could host such a high profile conference. Its events like these that we want to see more of in the city. Of course the benefits for the Eastern Cape and Nelson Mandela Bay of hosting a conference of this are manifold.
“In a province struggling with poverty, emotional distress and vast social, economic and cultural issues, the role of the LifeLine is more critical than ever, and we are happy the national organization and our African brothers and sisters at LifeLine Southern Africa could come and share their experiences in the surrounds of Nelson Mandela Bay,” said Skefile.
At the gathering LifeLine committed itself to continuing seeing through a process – started three years ago – of moving from a reactive service to one that is proactive, said Christa Chidrawi, development director for LifeLine Southern Africa.
“It's a difficult change and a different idea, but we are committed to the change. This conference has given us a renewed spark for pursuing this new avenue,” said Chidrawi.
She emphasized the fact that the new focus on building stronger community emotional wellness, before problems got to the point of desperation, would not detract from the core services offered by LifeLine. “There are no changes in our services, but there is a change in our approach.
“The situation we – and similarly many other African countries – are facing in a post-struggle South Africa, is that people are sitting with emotions they cannot deal with. There have been great losses: loss of opportunity, work, money, loved ones. Also, often people have opportunities they can’t handle and many people are in situations they have not been trained for; levels of stress for everyone are on the rise.
“For the past 40 years we have been counselling people who chose to phone us. This is already an indication that they had some access to resources. We realized that there is a greater need to reach people before they get to the point of despair,” said Chidrawi. “Therefore we are in the process of trying to get communities to own their own emotional wellness – through training and reaching key community members who can assist in developing emotional wellness.”
The 42nd Annual LifeLine Southern Africa Conference held in Port Elizabeth saw a total of 61 delegates from across the Sub-Saharan African region attend and included senior representatives from South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.
Susan Potgieter, director of LifeLine Port Elizabeth, said the conference – framed by the warmth and friendliness of Nelson Mandela Bay – saw a recommitment to and passion for the role of LifeLine. “We want to be more relevant and take a stronger role, these new steps are one way of achieving that.”
“LifeLine would like to restore the ethics of care, emotional wellness and human development in our communities through urgent rebuilding of family, community and social relations in order to promote social integration and emotionally well communities,” she said.
LifeLine also held its annual general meeting at the conference where the new office bearers were elected. Eastern Cape representative, Samantha Fredericks was elected to the LifeLine Southern Africa board.
The final contribution at the conference was given by Jane Stevenson, deputy president of the Port Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Percci), who drove home to delegates the importance of taking calculated risks for maximum reward and not being afraid of learning through making mistakes. “We have the ability to change people’s lives profoundly and in this day and age we can either adapt with a changing world or we fight it.”
The fitting message of embracing change was well received by delegates as they left to take the conference outcomes back to their respective countries, provinces and clients. The conference ran for four days from October 19 – 23 at the Beach Hotel.
Author: Amy Shelver
Please wait!
