At an event on Thursday 30th January, 2014, Primedia Broadcasting Company (702 Talk Radio) donated the premises on 85 Tudhope Avenue, Berea, Johannesburg to the Sisters of Mercy South Africa Province. The broadcast took place during the very popular breakfast show and was a most enjoyable occasion during which our Provincial Leader, Sister Kathy Rule, accepted the keys to the house and thanked 702 for this huge gift to be used to continue the ministry with women in need.
In 2005 Primedia offered the premises to the Sisters of Mercy on a use-agreement basis. Renovations and upgrade took place to make the house a home for 20 women who at any given time avail of accommodation and skills training and enjoy the help of a qualified social worker as they deal with their personal and family issues and find inner peace and hope for the future.
Primedia valued the work carried out at the Centre called Primedia Mercy Centre and planned to transfer the house during the week of Activism Against Women Abuse in November last year. Sadly that was the very week of the funeral of our global icon and treasured leader Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. The transfer of the property was therefore postponed to 2014.
On 29th January, the broadcasting van arrived – under heavy security – at 85 Tudhope Avenue and great preparation got underway as we planned how to handle this exciting event. Very early in the morning the talk show host John Robbie – himself a Wicklow man and former Lions rugby player – arrived to set the broadcast in motion. There was huge camaraderie between the talk show staff, the people who gathered to be part of the event and even strollers from the street who came to enjoy the moment. A policeman arrived with the specific purpose of getting a photo of himself with John Robbie – on orders of his young son who listens to the programme to improve his English!
John made a pitch for support for the Centre and the Rands came rolling in, as well as offers of various household items. One of the major donors was Media Works, an accelerated learning programme, with the license donated in perpetuity for any Mercy Centre wishing to use it. The donor, Dennis Lamberti, is named after the late Archbishop Dennis Hurley who baptised him.
Catering was donated by Primedia so we all had that wonderful cup of tea afterwards – prepared by a young man whose mother was at McAuley House School in Johannesburg and whose sisters attended St. Teresa’s Mercy School, Rosebank – connections are mighty!
St. John Enright rsm
South African Province
