Valley Trust celebrates 70th anniversary

THE Valley Trust (TVT) recently held a breakfast event to celebrate the organisation’s 70th anniversary.

Themed, ‘70 Years Tells a Story’, the event was attended by past executive directors and board members, current board members, past and present staff members, community members, representatives from TVT’s partners and members of the family of Dr Halley Stott, the founder of TVT.

TVT is a non-profit organisation established in 1953 and is situated in the Valley of 1000 Hills. It began as the outreach unit for the Botha’s Hill Clinic which had been established by Dr Stott two years before.

Also read: Local NPO honours former execs at fundraiser

Today, the trust continues to work to improve the well-being of rural communities in the Valley of 1000 Hills and elsewhere through supporting the early development of children, skills building for youth and other interventions.

Speakers who addressed the audience recalled the founding of TVT, what it was like to work with the pioneering Dr Stott and how the organisation had impacted their lives.

Executive director S’bo Vilakazi described the late Dr Stott as a person who appreciated the importance of meaningful engagement with communities.

Uplifting the Valley of 1000 Hills community

“He sought to implement it in his work with the black people of the Valley of 1000 Hills. This was against the popular thinking of the time, especially when apartheid was just taking hold.”

Vilakazi said that from early on in his life, Dr Stott understood the link between health and the social determinants of health, which is to say that he recognised that being healthy depended on not just what you ate and drank but on every other aspect of how you lived.

“He was also convinced that it was possible to keep yourself healthy at home and not need to visit the clinic due to preventable diseases.

“In this way, one could ‘shut’ what Dr Nigel Stott, the recently deceased son of Dr Halley Stott, called ‘the revolving door of malnutrition’ – people getting treated in clinics for ailments caused by poor nutrition and then going back into the same social conditions that made them sick in the first place, only to end up back at the clinic,” he said.

The work of TVT did not end with health education. The organisation provided practical assistance which helped to improve the lives of local people in many ways.

This included the building of roads, bringing piped water into the valley for the first time, building health posts to improve access to medical care in remote parts of the valley, building recreational facilities, establishing a local fresh produce market, introducing labour-intensive infrastructure projects to improve skills and employment among locals, adoption of appropriate technologies and many other initiatives that addressed the medical, social and economic health of local communities.

“In all this work, Dr Stott prioritised maintaining a close relationship and collaboration with local communities, understanding and respecting traditional culture and practice as well as seeking to strengthen the ties between communities and their natural resources.

“I believe the acknowledgement of and respect for local communities was critical in making TVT as successful as it was able to become and has enabled the organisation to last as long as it has.”

Also read: Upper Highway’s Valley Trust gets a revamp

Vilakazi thanked all those who took the time to celebrate the organisation’s 70th anniversary.

“We look forward to more years of positive contribution towards the well-being of the communities we serve,” he added.

Other speakers included Dr Mfana Shozi, chairperson of the TVT Board of Trustees; Julia and Hilton Thorpe, the daughter and son-in-law of Dr Stott; Dr Keith Wimble, who spoke on behalf of past directors of TVT; Dr Jane Kvalsvig, a former board member who led a study conducted by TVT into the causes and events surrounding the riots of 2021 in the valley, and Hlengiwe Msomi, who spoke on behalf of local communities.

TVT is currently on a drive to collect clothing and educational toys for children aged from birth to six years. To contribute, contact the organisation on 031 716 6800 or info@vtrust.org.za or contact Pippa on 081 413 3996.

For more from the Highway Mail, follow us on Facebook , X and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.