UJW Pretoria helps Hoopstad farmers

Members of the Pretoria Union of Jewish Women (UJW) recently travelled to Hoopstad in the Free State with more than 100 crates full of food, toys, and medicine for 300 farmers whose land and cattle were destroyed by fire.

The crates were collected and packed by chairperson Ciska Lewis and vice-chairperson Tracy Myer, who spent weeks collecting funds for the farmers. They were accompanied to Hoopstad by Martin Bester of Jacaranda FM and rugby player Bakkies Botha.

“Our phones haven’t stopped ringing with more offers of donations,” says Lewis. “Even the residents of Jaffa, Pretoria’s aged home, gave money. I’m so impressed with the generosity of people in Pretoria. “It has been an emotional day,” Lewis said of meeting the farmers, who she described as “die sout van die aarde”.

“Oom Hennie”, the farmer where the goods were delivered, asked Lewis and Myer to return for a weekend so that they could hear about the work of the UJW.

On his breakfast show, Bester expressed his amazement at Pretoria’s Jewish ladies, who not only gave so much, but came personally. He gave the UJW “a big mazaltov” for its work.