Another SA Hollywood star shines

There is more to South Africa's exports to Hollywood than just Charlize Theron and Arnold Vosloo. Stelio Savante left his birth place of Cape Town in 1990 for the USA on a tennis scholarship to the University of West Alabama. A theatre major at UWA, he also represented the university in tennis and football, and received the Alpha Psi Omega acting honours award. In 1992 he moved to New York to pursue an acting career. In 2001 he acted in 110 Stories, alongside Susan Sarandon, James Gandolfini, Edie Falco and Mary Stuart Masterson. A role in the TV soapie, All My Children was followed by small roles in The Sopranos and A Beautiful Mind. In 2005 he acted in three films - Pulse, The Coldest Winter (main role in this war film) and My Super Ex-Girlfriend (as Leo). The Coldest Winter won as best film at the Hollywood Digital Film Festival, and at Fargo Film Festival. Guest roles in TV shows such as Law & Order Special Victims Unit (in 2005), and Ugly Betty (as Steve), helped build his profile further. His voice has been used in several radio, television and Internet spots. In 2006 he worked on the TV series, The Foreign Connection, along with fellow Hollywood-based South African actress, Christel Smith (Tarien in Egoli). They would like make a film based on the show, about organised crime, and shoot it on location in South Africa. Stelio has a supporting role in Starship Troopers Mauraunder, which was shot on location in Cape Town (Plumstead, Atlantis, Silwerstroom, Epping and Camps Bay) in 2007. He will also be seen in A Million Colours, the sequel to e’Lollipop, also shot in South Africa in 2007. Stelio has written a film script, White Gold, about the ivory trade and fellow USA-based South African actors, Embeth Davidtz and Arnold Vosloo were considering taking part. His latest role sees him alongside Tom Sizemore and several Sopranos cast members in the action crime thriller, Corrado. Amongst his off-screen accolades are being named #19 in Elle Magazine's Hot 40 List (2006/2007) and chosen as In Style Magazine's Man Of Style. In 2006 Stelio and his wife Carla Pina moved from New York to Los Angeles. They have a daughter, Ava Grace. Stelio's father is Greek and his mother South African. The former Camps Bay High School student, now 38, still misses Table Mountain!

Re-charging while shopping

A flat cellphone battery while out shopping could soon be a thing of the past. A new service is being launched in South African shopping malls that takes 15 minutes to re-charge your cellphone battery. The H2M cellphone recharging station was launched at Clearwater Mall in Johannesburg. Users punch in a code to open a personal locker where they leave the phone charging while they do their shopping. Shukri Cornelius of H2M said that the majority of cellphones can be re-charged, as well as iPods, laptops and PDAs.

Cheap calls from South Africa

An instant messaging service is helping South Africans chat at cheaper rates. Download mig33 onto your cellphone, register for free, follow the authentication prompts and you're mig33-enabled. mig33 was released in December 2005 and offers not only free instant messaging, but also uses VoIP (voice over internet protocol) technology. Recently mig33 added a prepaid calling-card service that reduces the cost of international calls. In South Africa the cards are available in denominations of R10, R20, R50 and R100 from cellphone retail outlets.

Making a plan work

Cindy Purchase of Linden, Johannesburg, came up with a way to help make her suburb a better place. The stay-at-home mother and former national squash champion decided to form a block guard and introduced herself to her neighbours. That was the start of the Linden Community Blockwatch. The neighbours exchanged phone numbers and alerted each other when they were away. This later developed into a street watch. Last December the blockwatch used a security company's services and had a guard patrol their street. This was done on a trial basis as the company did not have foot patrols, but was willing to test the idea. It worked and the guards were used at Easter again. A bank account was opened and the fees were paid by the participating households. Cindy used an aerial photo of Linden to divide the suburb into sections and group leaders were nominated. She also uses e-mail to keep the neighbours informed. Everyone in the blockwatch was issued with whistles to use as a warning system. Cindy also works with the local police station to stay up to date.

Cindy's plan can easily be replicated by other concerned citizens - start with your own block. Look at which security company is most widely used in the block. Contact the company and ask about street foot patrols. Choose a team that can co-ordinate, and get to know your neighbours and the next block. Have a block get-together now and then. Attend your local community policing forum meetings. Cindy can be reached at cindy@solashayde.co.za

South African wine firsts

If you thought pinotage only comes in red, think again! South Africa's pinotage king, Beyers Truter of the Stellenbosch wine estate, Beyerskloof, has created the world's first white pinotage. Beyerskloof also has a Pinotage Rosé, Pinotage Brut, Pinotage Reserve, Pinotage Port, and a three-year-old Pinotage brandy which will be bottled next year.

Another wine estate, Diemersfontein in Wellington, has created a deep red pinotage with a strong coffee and dark chocolate flavour - pure bliss! It goes well with beef or lamb, but the most divine is with dark chocolate truffles.

Military honour for SA Navy Captain

Capt. Jacobus Jordaan (49) of Port Elizabeth and a South African Navay officer, was recently honoured by the German Defence Force when he received the Honour Cross (silver) for his work as project officer in Kiel. Capt. Jordaan and his family have been based in Germany since May 2004, where for the last two years he has been in charge of the submarine export project. The last of the three U209 submarines built by a German consortium for the SAN was the SAS Queen Modjadji. Capt. Jordaan also helped with the training of the South African sailors who will man the submarines. Capt. Jordaan returns to his base in Pretoria at the end of April, joining his wife Henriëtte and children, Melissa and Ben. He grew up in Port Elizabeth and attended Hoërskool Framesby. In 1977 he joined the Navy.

Rotarians helping across the waters

Thousands of used wheelchairs are sent from the UK to South Africa where they are recycled and given to Sesego Cares, a non-profit organisation that helps physically handicapped people. The Northcliff Rotary Club receives the wheelchairs from the Rushmoor Rotary Club in England. This partnership goes back to the 1990s and more than 16 000 wheelchairs have been donated so far. John Turner of the Northcliff Rotarians and owner of Afgo in Selby, has one of his technicians, Nelson Motha, himself in a wheelchair, help with the repair work. Some of the wheelchairs have gone to neighbouring countries. Sesego Care is a volunteer group started by the wives of Absa employees in 2005, after a visit to a Cape Town township.

Think Twice - Don't Buy Wildlife Souvenirs

Elephant hair bracelets, shark tooth earrings and porcupine quill lampshades are popular with tourists to South Africa, but they are deadly for our wildlife. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) has launched a "Think Twice - Don't Buy Wildlife Souvenirs" campaign to encourage tourists to help stop the killing of wildlife for curios. South Africa's airports will show infomercials that begin with an image of dead wildlife circulating on a luggage carousel. Porcupine lampshades need 140 quills, which means that eight porcupines were killed to make it. Quills sell from about R2 each in a retail outlet to about R6 for a bundle of 12 through a dealer.

Van der Merwe's everywhere!

A little piece of South Africa is found in a busy shopping street in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. If the South African flag doesn't catch the eye at the SA Camera and Video Shop, the slogan "The One and Only Van der Merwe Shop" will! The shop is owned by James Ng and PC Ching (better known as Koos), two Chinese Bhuddists. They opened the camera and video retail business in 1978 and soon became popular with South African Airways crew. Encouraged by a South African friend, Larry, in 1980 they decided to give their shop a South African name. Since then, hundreds of South Africans have bought a camera, video or other electronic equipment from them. The pair have never been to South Africa, but Koos has picked up some Afrikaans - "Baie lekker", "Dis mooi", "Geen probleem", and "Een, twee, drie. Lekker." The walls of the shop are covered with photos of the pair posing with South African customers, including Eon de Vos, Sandy McCormick, Diana Tilden-Davis, Michael Mol, Suzette van der Merwe, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Francois Pienaar and other South African rugby players. The shop walls also have some Sharks memorabilia.

Southern Africa Direct TV

Pierre van der Hoven, from Plettenberg Bay, shows South Africa off to the 9.1 million Britons who subscribe to Sky TV channel. About 400 000 Irish residents and three million European households also watch the channel. Southern Africa Direct on on channel 283 shows videos about the lifestyle and culture of Southern African communities.The show was launched in November 2007.