Page 11 - SCAT Rural Voice II - 35 Stories for 35 Years

IT ALL STARTED WITH A CANDLE-LIT LUNCH
By Di oliver
In 1984 Barry Streek made an appointment to see me. I had not met him before, but admired his journalistic skills and enjoyed his cooking column in the Cape Times. Barry’s affable nature and persuasive approach soon had me agreeing to become a third trustee of a yet-to-be-born organisation. Gordon Young was already on board. That was the start of SCAT becoming an integral part of my life for twenty-five years.
SCAT was born at a luncheon arranged at the Cape Town home of the Acting Consul- General, later Secretary General, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Bjarne Lindstrom. We signed the legal documents at the candle-lit lunch table. Burning candles at lunch was a charming Norwegian custom that was new to me. The gentle warmth of the flames held promise for what had been born.
It is thirty-five years later and time to celebrate what has been achieved. From the outset SCAT sought to be an enabling organisation. In other words, it aimed at strengthening work on the ground by being a resource and funding partner and not a director or manager of staff who did the work. Each local initiative was independent, set its own goals and decided how it would implement them. Communities were besieged by apartheid’s tight grip 35 years ago, but despite the risks, individuals came forward to initiate advice offices and other local organisations that stood for justice and were desperate for change. Despite the odds, they fought every inch of the way to achieve success in their endeavours. We designed SCAT’s funding criteria to encourage and support the development of local organisations that could be held accountable, both for the work they undertook in the name of local communities and for the finances they raised and received. There were only a few organisations that couldn’t make the grade, sometimes through no fault of their own. Sometimes they re-organised themselves and tried again. This was always reason for celebration.
Norwegian Church Aid was SCAT’s pioneer funder. It placed its trust in the formation of a South African-based trust and SCAT’s first three trustees to address social change. We owe them a great debt of gratitude. Norwegian funding continued for many years and a range of other funders joined them. SCAT owes its profound gratitude to them all. Without them, rural rights and development needs in our country would very easily remain in the realm of silence.
di oliVer
RuRal Voice ii: 35 stories for 35 years
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bArry streek
bJArne lindstrøM