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Jayne WINSTANELY, South African, volunteer
Dubai: Jayne Winstanely volunteers at a centre for mentally and physically handicapped people. Having lived in eight countries and 34 houses, Jayne has volunteered in most places she has lived "to try to better the situation wherever we went".
Since moving to Abu Dhabi about 18 months ago, Jayne felt the need to volunteer and finds the job very rewarding. She admits to having favourites and says that one patient responds specifically to her.
"Whenever I see him I say ‘Assalamu Alaikum, gummy bear'. He gets very excited and tries to pull me towards him," she said. ‘Gummy bear', who has a speaking disability among others, tries to call her ‘ouma' or ‘grandma' in Afrikaans, said Winstanely.
She volunteers in music therapy classes at the Abu Dhabi centre and said "just a smile is good enough".
Besides volunteering, she takes care of her husband and 78-year old mother-in-law, who she calls the family's "rock of stability", and writes a blog about the different places she's visited and lived and her experiences there.
"I've lived in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Ghana, Saudi Arabia and the UAE," she said. "I've even had to get used to living a Japanese lifestyle in the middle of the African bush."
The different experiences she had have taught her not to take anything for granted. "Here you can just go to a shop and buy some bread, but I have had to worry a month in advance about going to a town two hours away to buy ingredients to make my own bread in Africa," she recalled.
Blog address: http://jaynewithawhy.blogspot.com
Nominated by: Mike Winstanely, her husband of
30 years, nominated his wife "because she's a wife in a million" who has a "soft heart" for people in need. According to Mike, Jayne was both mother and father to their son when he was not around, and is now taking care of himself, his mother and the patients at the handicapped centre.
Have you seen an everyday hero in action? Is there an everyday hero in your life? How did he or she help other people? To nominate someone fill in the form below and click the send button
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