Janet Oosthuysen - Labour candidate for Calder
Janet was born in July 1961 in Durban, South Africa, to parents closely involved in the fight against apartheid. The family fled the regime in October that year and arrived to live in exile in England.
Eventually settling in Stroud, Janet attended Sir William Romney’s School, a “bog-standard comprehensive” where she received what she describes as a “brilliant education”.
In 1979 she attended Manchester University where she became active in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language and Literature and went on to qualify as a teacher in Leeds.
In her first two teaching jobs, Janet became the NUT Union Rep but left to go to Hong Kong for three years where her first daughter Bethan was born in 1990. She worked at the Chi Ma Wan refugee camp as an education co-ordinator.
Whilst in Hong Kong, Janet met Nelson Mandela, along with other leading anti-apartheid activists, which she describes as one of the most incredible experiences of her life. “Nelson had just won his freedom from prison a few months earlier” she said “yet there was no bitterness. He was so warm and a true inspiration to everyone there.”
Janet returned to teaching in Manchester in 1991 where her two sons, Calum and James were born, and in 1998 she moved to Hebden Bridge working first in Luddenden and then in Mixenden and Ovenden as a class teacher in Junior schools.
In 2001, she started working for Global Link, a development education centre in Lancaster as refugee education worker. It involved taking a huge interactive exhibition called “Escape to safety”, detailing a refugees journey from home country to a place of “safety”, around schools and discussing refugees issues with school children of all ages all around the country.
From 2003 to 2006, she worked as a community development worker at Bradford Resource Centre. At the same time, she began work as the cook at the Trades club at the weekends.
Deciding on cooking career, she began work as head chef at Central Street School, Hebden Bridge in 2006 and has now started her own business as a caterer.
Janet is a life-long environmentalist and trade unionist, and is a member of the Cooperative party (www.party.coop), the LRC- (the Labour Representation Committee, (see more at www.l-r-c.org.uk), the Slow Food movement ("http://www.slowfoodwy.org.uk/), and the Transport and General Workers Union.
If you’d like to contact Janet about anything on this website, or any issue you’d like us to take up on your behalf, click on the contact us link and get in touch.