Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
A touch of Africa seals birthday celebrations for Fair City social enterprise
AFRICA came to Perth for a night when the
Fair City’s charity and social enterprise, Giraffe on South Street, held an evening with a truly African theme.
In the last 10 years, Giraffe has provided support, employment and training to vulnerable adults.
This has given the beneficiaries confidence and greatly helped them on their journey through life.
And leading the African evening was Sarah Russell, operations manager at Giraffe, who is originally from Cape Town.
She has been in Scotland for 10 years and has held her present position at Giraffe for the last four. She said: “It was a great evening with a lot of tasty food, all with an African theme.
“As well as braided Kenyan chicken, there was Ghanaian red stew, Cape Malay pickled fish, South African milk tart and various rices.
“A South African barbecue, named a braai, and traditional South African sausages were also on the menu.” Helping Giraffe with the sausages was Perth city centre butcher Beaton Lindsay who sourced all the ingredients.
The event also celebrated Giraffe’s 10th birthday and it lasted most of the day.
Other features included staff sharing aspects of their work over the last decade.
Since its inception, Giraffe has been an advocacy for inclusivity and personal development for people from all over Perth and Kinross.
They accomplish this through supported work experience, employment, socialisation and personal development opportunities at their various sites throughout the Fair City.
Those who have benefited from Giraffe’s help include people with autism, mental health issues and a range of learning difficulties. Giraffe has given them a safe place and a friendly working environment in which to grow their confidence.
The social enterprise stated: “We encourage all our trainees and volunteers to consolidate their work skills and training by gaining accredited qualifications. “We offer courses that are relevant to a wide range of future employment opportunities.
“We also offer food hygiene, customer service, first aid, cooking skills and horticulture.”