Last HCL meeting of the year
The meeting also coincided with the birthday of 90-year-old Effie Antoniou who has been a member of HCL for over 20 years and was born on October 9.
The Household Consumers League (HCL) had their last meeting of the year with guest speakers from Nedbank and a Ukrainian embroider on October 10.
First up was Svitlana Roos, a housewife from Vereeniging, and was welcomed by the league to give a presentation on Ukrainian embroidery.
Roos has been a South African resident for the past eight years but was born in Ukraine.
“I was taught by mother how to be an embroider at about seven or eight years old,” said Roos.
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She spoke about embroidery and the customs attached to it whether being married or engaged.
Roos explained the difference between his and her’s embroidery and how different symbols give meaning and also colour.
“Black means unhappy and red means happy. When embroidering, you want to put more red than black, but you cannot have red without the black,” said Roos.
She said some of her embroidery projects take more than one year to complete.
Roos also spoke about being born in the Soviet Union.
“Growing up in the Soviet Union they told us other countries are poor and we are wealthy, but if you went to shops to buy food, you could barely afford anything,” said Roos.
She said at one point they could only have 250g of butter per family and had no choice of clothing, where everything was limited.
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“You were not allowed to leave the country or come into the country at that time,” said Roos.
She said Ukraine and Belarus became independent in 1991 and things were very difficult after that.
“We were able to move around and we got a new president, which we call the chocolate king because we have a really good chocolate factory,” said Roos.
She said education in their country is really good as she has two university degrees.
HCL also welcomed guests from Nedbank, Elaine Logan from Ned Group Trust Sandton and Financial Planner from Eastgate branch Gerhard van de Bergh.
Logan gave the league information about wills and testaments.
She said it is a document that states who will receive your assets when you die.
“You don’t have to be a millionaire to have a will,” said Logan.
She said you need to appoint a professional executor for your assets.
Logan said children under the age of 18 cannot inherit anything, therefore, a professional benefactor needs to step in as a trustee.
“You should have a will to ensure your assets get transferred,” said Logan.
The meeting also coincided with the birthday of 90-year-old Effie Antoniou who has been a member of HCL for over 20 years and was born on October 9.
Antoniou has been a resident of Observatory for 60 years.
“She has been a great addition to the league and has never missed a meeting since she joined,” said chairperson of HCL Chloe Eilertsen.
