1996. Magic. The birth. Before 1996, SASOHN Mpumalanga talk group. After 1996, the new SASOHN Mpumalanga Region!
This was also the year Agatha Pretorius presented her Occupational Health Diploma course through Eskom, in Nelspruit. Being a SASOHN member was compulsory, thereby increasing the membership number significantly, thus making the Region possible
The founder chairlady was Jenny Justo, whom have subsequently emigrated to Australia. The class of 1996 was founder members, and Mari-Lise de Bruyn(whom also subsequently emigrated to Australia with her husband, Dr de Bruyn (OMP)), one of the students, won the competition for the Name and MOHNS emblem. The Vision and Mission were also developed by the class of 1996.
We hosted our first AGM under the leadership of Ellenore Melrose in 1998. This was so successful, that members still talk about the event, especially the mountain of ice creams that were dished up for desert!
Ellenore moved to Johannesburg after being promoted in Sappi, and the Chair was briefly taken over by . She resided in Mozambique, which proved to be a disaster.
With Karen Michell’s intervention, Mpumalanga was saved from being disbanded as a Region, and Susan Smith took over as Chairlady for a period of 5 years.
After Susan’s move to Stellenbosch (Western Cape), the reigns were taken over by Beth de Kock. Under her leadership, the second AGM was hosted in 2011. Having had such a formidable first AGM to better, this was a huge challenge! But, I hope, the night drive (partly sponsored by Neil Schalkwyk) came to light!
Mpumalanga is a very big Region geographically (Tzaneen – Piet Retief – Vereeniging - Delmas – Mozambique), with more than 160 members presently. Unfortunately, due to the vast distances and the expensive tollgate fees, only a small number of the members attend the meetings. Members are urged to change from Region where possible, in order to gain from their SASOHN membership.
Meeting are held on the second last Friday monthly, at Manganese Metal Company (Nelspruit) Lapa. For topics, please see the Year Planner. A fee is charged for non-members and a nominal fee for members, in order to pay for the venue, eats and other admin fees. Flowers are won at each meeting, by lucky draw.
We hope to see old as well as new faces at our meetings, which is a loud, happy, inter-active event!
