The Bonteheuwel Walking Ladies have walked away with an award for being the best club in the provincial government’s Western Cape on Wellness (WoW!) initiative.
The programme helps people to make healthy lifestyle choices throughout their lives.
Soraya Salie, the club’s chairwoman,said they had gone to the awards ceremony, on Tuesday September 26, “with a positive mind to win the Qhubeka Bicycle”. The bicycle was one of the awards.
“We had to write what we will do with the bicycle, should we win it, and we said we would motivate youngsters to ride a bicycle, by letting our pensioners ride the bicycle to the various schools,” Ms Salie said.
But they didn’t win the bike. A much bigger prize awaited them.
“When we won the Gold Community Club Award, we were totally blown away,” said Ms Salie. “The award comes with R32 500 and that’s incredible.”
She thanked the provincial Department of Health and its WoW!programme partners “working together for a healthy society”.
She added: “We would also like to thank the forerunners of WoW! – Dr Frederick Marais and Dr Tracey Naledi – for the confidence they have in us. We are super excited to welcome MEC for Health, Nomafrench Mbombo, when she is able to visit our club at the Bonteheuwel Community Centre, in Apricot Street.”
Ms Salie and fellow member, Carmen Steyn, are the club’s Wow! Champions – these are peer leaders who establish and maintain a WoW! Club in their areas.
WoW! participants complete a confidential health and fitness assessment and a brief questionnaire about their physical activity, healthy eating and habits, including smoking and alcohol use. The assessment measures include height, weight, waist circumference, body mass index (BMI) and a fitness test.