15 June
2012, Middelburg:- Columbus Stainless (Pty)
Ltd’s corporate ethos states
that a business is not only measured on its ability to
satisfy customers and
reward stakeholders, or on safety and environmental
sensitivities, but also on
how it adds value to the community in which it operates.
As part of its own
commitment to corporate social
investment (CSI) as well as its Youth Day celebrations,
Columbus Stainless today
handed over 75 DeskBags, school uniforms, and school shoes
to HIV/AIDS orphans
cared for by the Vukanethemba Home Base Care (Vukanethemba)
in Mhluzi,
Mpumalanga. The PVC billboards used to make these DeskBags
was donated by
leading outdoor advertising company, ADreach.
“As a responsible corporate
citizen and an active
participant of the Middelburg Chamber of Commerce, Columbus
Stainless realises
that Middelburg has a relatively small community but that
there are many
needs,” says Jo Mabhena, General Manager of Human Resources
for Columbus
Stainless. “We identified Vukanethemba Home Base Care as a
non-profit
organisation that needed our assistance.”
Vukanethemba purely
survives on donations but makes a
remarkable difference in the community by helping to provide
quality life to
those living with HIV/AIDS. As part of their daily
responsibilities, the 17
employees at Vukanethemba see to the needs of 80 AIDS
patients and their
families, which include daily home visits, feeding, washing,
and dressing
patients that cannot help themselves. Further, they also
help with counselling
and ARV treatment, as well as providing breakfast and lunch
for 56 HIV/AIDS
orphans daily.
“Our decision to support
Vukanethemba’s AIDS
orphans was driven by our shared commitment to making a
difference among the
local community. Not only will their supported children
benefit from the new
school uniforms but we are particularly excited about the
advantages associated
with the DeskBags.
“DeskBags are durable and
fully functional school
bags made from recycled PVC billboard materials, that when
folded open, allows
for portable desk support too. As many of the children stay
in informal
settlements, and do not have access to a desk or table at
home, the DeskBags
will provide them a work surface to do their homework or
studies on.”
Madelain Roscher, Managing
Director of DeskBags adds that
recent studies by UNESCO revealed that there are as many as
4 million children
in South Africa who do not have access to school desks.
“Education is one of the
most important elements in a
child’s life and while many children are eager to learn,
their lack of
facilities can considerably hamper their educational
development and they could
subsequently struggle to become positive contributing
members of
society,” says Roscher.
“Many children do not have
access to formal
classrooms, and are forced to either kneel on the ground or
work on make-shift
desks during their school day, which as you can imagine is
extremely
uncomfortable. In addition, a number of these children walk
considerable
distances to and from school carrying books and other
supplies, and we
didn’t want to add to their load, so we created the all in
one solution,
the DeskBag.”
DeskBags are also
eco-friendly, waterproof, and light
enough for even pre-primary scholars to use. Each DeskBag
also comes standard
with reflective binding that allows children to be easily
spotted when walking
in the rain or dark.
“Over and above supporting
needy children in our
immediate community, we are also supporting a wonderful
enterprise development
initiative as DeskBags are produced by disadvantaged women
who were previously
unemployed,” concludes Mabhena.
For more information on how
you can get involved with
DeskBags, join their Facebook page on: www.facebook.com/DeskBags.
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