CANSA says goodbye to Sal Carter

Update Video

RIVERSDALE NEWS - CANSA will be saying goodbye to the their own Mother Theresa soon.

Sal Carter, who has been living on a farm in the area since 2000, will be retiring and 'emigrating' to Hermanus with her husband David later this year.

CANSA will be using the opportunity at their Cuppa for CANSA High Tea on Saturday 7 September to say goodbye to her.

Carter, who has formal training in social work, started with Child Welfare and then did medical and psychiatric social work at Groote Schuur hospital, before the birth of her three children. When they finished school, she did counselling and family therapy for FAMSA and volunteered at St Luke's Hospice in Kenilworth.

Horse therapy for children lead to her being local and eventually national chairperson for Riding for the Disabled Association.

When David retired in 2000, the couple decided to do something completely different. They bought a farm outside Riversdale and she started farming milch goats. "I learned to make goat's milk cheese, which I marketed under the label Noah's Dove. Eventually, the farming became too much, and we 'retired'."

But 'retiring' has a different meaning for her than for other people. In her vocabulary, it simply means 'find somewhere else to do good'.

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So she became involved with CANSA. "One can try to leave social work, but it never leaves you. I became involved with a street child project once a week teaching them skills, but also the value of honesty, appreciation and hard work. I would like to believe that these 10 children at least learned that there is kindness in the world."

When the good work CANSA was doing came to her attention, she immediately became involved. "I had the skills and had trained people for hospice, so I became involved in helping with patients, fundraising and prevention." She was involved with Heidelberg Relay for Life in 2013. When the previous chair of

CANSA, Elfriede Petersen retired, she took her place, a position which she filled with enthusiasm for four years.

For the past two to three years she started focusing on her patients, taking care of their emotional needs.

At the age of 75, she is retiring again. "My biggest joy in life is to help somebody. I would like to become a death dollah and sit by their bedside when they are dying and help them understand that death is not a frightening thing."

Tickets for the High Tea, which will be held at NGK Riversdal Wes, is available from new CANSA chairperson Lilian Burke. Contact her at 072 122 2943.

Always ready to have fun, Sal Carter sports a purple wig.