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Working to ‘change the world’
Pam Green – who has turned compassion and caring into an occupation – was this week awarded the 2017 Woman of the Year/Woman in Community award under the auspices of the organization Woman of Stature.
SUZANNE BELLING
She was chosen because of how she has saved strangers, brought relief to victims of xenophobia and done whatever general community work she could do.
“I believe you can do anything you put your mind to. One person truly can change the world,” says Green.
Lying in her hospital bed a few months ago, having been diagnosed with cancer, she told Jewish Report: “It was surreal – I did not know if I was going to live or die. But I have since been told that there is a 100 per cent chance of recovery.”
She came out of her hospital bed fighting for others.
She recently hit the headlines by alerting emergency services when she stopped late at night to save a woman, who was thrown – allegedly by her husband – from a moving car. Because of Green, that woman is now in a place of safety.
Green finds jobs for the unemployed through her non-profit organisation Second Chances and started her new career last year while driving back from the office and spotting a man holding a sign under the Sandton Bridge.
He was looking for work, but instead of the usual “Need Work” on the sign, he had put his CV on. Through her contacts, the next day he was employed.
Her initial good deed snowballed into finding jobs for the underprivileged and unemployed, leading to the founding of Second Chances, “an online platform where I find employment for those in need of jobs”, she explains.
The award was presented to Green by Charlotte du Plessis, director and founder of Woman of Stature, and Carolyn Steyn, last year’s winner in the same category.
“I am overwhelmed and humbled, especially as I was up against women of incredible calibre.”
Green also does work for outreach organisation Afrika Tikkun in cause-related fundraising and is starting an outreach project for schools.