South Africa: Air Force Base Overberg celebrated Casual Day activities with a tasteful twist on Friday, 01 September 2023. The theme for this year’s Casual Day was embraced by all members in an array of colour and morale-raising activities inspired by the Officer Commanding, Colonel Donavan Chetty.
As members of the Department of Defence, taking ownership in competing in social responsibility drives to support associations such as Curamus (Organization for People with Disabilities) is taken very seriously by the Base Command Council and its members.
The Colour Fun Run created the platform for ‘Sharing a Smile’, where some participants dressed in different costumes and went on a run/walk and colour-coated their targets in a peaceful and joyous manner. Captain van Sittert won the prize for the most colourful participant (almost unrecognizable).
To conclude Woman`s Month, Joelaine Chetty, wife of the Officer Commanding, a Senior Research Scientist RD (SA MPH, PhD Candidate at Medical Research Council of SA), presented to the ladies of the Base, on the contents of food products, nutrients and required daily consumption, food labelling and the benefits of reading labels before purchasing food items.
She also enlightened the end-user on making decisions for family members who suffer from high blood pressure, and diabetes and useful tips to counter the effects or minimize the impact of the excessive intake of certain products according to the charts displayed on products.
Colonel Donovan Chetty, Officer Commanding Air Force Base Overberg, gathered all the ladies for a cooking demo; the main dish was butter chicken and to complement it, the traditional Indian roti preparation. The ladies were divided into six teams of ten.
The cook-off saw a combination of teams: the Daisies, Chili Chicks, Sunflowers, Salt and Pepper, Pink Panther and The Nutless Girls. Each team had to pick a secret ingredient to finish the dish.
According to Colonel Chetty, the judging was “no easy task, as all the teams put in great efforts with décor, the tasting of the main dishes was superb. The anticipation was nail-biting for all, but Pink Panther, Salt and Pepper took the leading place for the extra effort. It remains a fact that food without salt is tasteless, I guess that’s why Salt and Pepper ultimately grabbed the winning spot.”
The Officer Commanding thanked all the participants and Old Mutual who attended the event and sponsored spot prizes to the winners of the Colour Fun Run as well as the Cooking competition. The Casual Day collections will be donated to Curamus (Organization for People with Disabilities).
