Image credit: Malachite Sunbird, Nectarinia famosa, male Derek Keats
Over 90 bird species have been recorded at the Oliewenhuis koppie and gardens, making it a bird lover’s paradise. The Oliewenhuis Art Museum is situated on Grant’s Hill in Bloemfontein and is surrounded by 12 acres of natural vegetation. The Oliewenhuis koppie stretches right up to the boundary fence on top of the hill. It has four well marked walking trails through the unspoilt natural surroundings.
Introduction
In a recent assessment around the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations Organisation (UNO) noted that the ‘pandemic is impacting global food systems, disrupting regional agricultural value chains, and posing risks to household food security’. It also stressed the need to ‘ensure the safety and well-being of staff and beneficiaries’.[1] ReliefWeb, a humanitarian information service provided by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), further observed that lockdowns and other control measures including restricting access to income-earning activities, aimed at curbing the spread of the virus, has both ‘increased the magnitude and severity of acute food insecurity’ around the world.[2]
In England between 1850 and 1914 you would have probably been the proud owner of a little china figure after a visit to the fair. They were given away as prizes at the fairground and were mostly small porcelain ornaments. The word fairing (‘fayring’ or ‘fairin’ in old English) is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘a present given at or brought from a fair’ and it comes from the Latin ‘féria’ meaning a holiday.
‘Peace prizes’, noted University of Bradford academic Peter van den Dungen, ‘are awards given to individuals or to organizations for distinguished achievements or efforts in promoting peace’[1]. These awards aim to ‘honor, support and encourage a peacemaker’ or to encourage others to emulate the life and deeds of a great peacemaker. More importantly, they provide ‘legitimacy for their activity as well as a degree of protection for their person where these were lacking before’[2].
‘Norah, you are never going to be beautiful so you had better make yourself useful’. This, according to Julie Carter, was in Norah Wellings’ mind when she looked at herself in a mirror in 1919. With sheer determination, hard work and loads of talent Norah became one of the best soft toy makers in the world.