 IBM on a roll with donation of Hippo Water Rollers
Life line
South African Music Education Trust
Ekupholeni Mental Health Centre
Johannesburg Institute of Social Services
Foundation for Economic & Business Development
Deaf Education Project at the University of the Witwatersand
Woodside Sanctuary
Other Projects
IBM on a roll with donation of Hippo Water Rollers
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| Donation of 800 water-carrying rollers to rural communities |
IBM SA, on Friday the 9 November 2001, rolled out another contribution to the upliftment of rural communities, being part of a donation of 800 Hippo Water Rollers to two Mpumalanga villages.
Friday's donation will benefit the communities of Luphisi and Mpakeni adjacent to the community-owned Mthethomusha Game Reserve in Mpumalanga. There are about 800 households in the two communities whose primary source of water is from a river and mountain streams in the area.
IBM, as part of its corporate social responsibility programme, is donating 100 water rollers with the remaining 700 being donated by an anonymous donor from New York, says Alf Mandewo, IBM SA's corporate social responsibility executive. This is the second consecutive year that the donor has teamed up with IBM to donate water rollers to needy communities.
The Hippo Water Roller's design is based on the old-fashioned lawn roller. It can carry up to 90 litres of water and weighs the equivalent of about 12kg when full. The person fetching the water no longer has to carry heavy loads of water, instead rolling the daily supply of water home where the drum can be used as a central water supply and storage tank.
About 12 million South Africans have to walk more than 200 metres, and often up to several kilometers, to reach water for drinking, bathing and cooking. Most of the water bearers are women and children who use containers holding between 5 and 10 litres, carrying them on their heads, in hand or with the relative luxury of a wheelbarrow.
The donation of the Hippo Water Rollers was facilitated by the Africa Foundation, an independent NGO which has worked in Luphisi village for the past two years in partnership with CC Africa's Bongani Mountain Lodge to raise funds from local and international tourists for development projects in the surrounding villages.
"This is the fourth time that IBM has contributed to the Hippo Water Roller Project," says Mandewo. "Previous recipient communities are Laersdrift in Mpumalanga in 1998, Kgautswane, near Ohrigstad in Northern Province in 1999, and Luphisi last year. We are proud to be able to continue our association."
"Many small organisations and projects are overlooked by corporate social responsibility programmes because there is a need to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Yet, these small organisations are often the ones closest to the community and have the best understanding of its needs. These organisations thus have the greatest potential to bring about positive change, quickly," Mandewo emphasises.
"The Hippo Water Roller Project alleviates the critical need of thousands of fellow South Africans to be able to fetch and store water in a humane and efficient manner. These water rollers are not the ultimate answer, but until every South African has access to piped water in their homes, IBM will continue to strive to improve conditions and contribute to the upliftment of our communities," he concludes.
IBM on a roll with donation of Hippo Water Rollers
Alfred Mandewo, IBM and Samantha Terblanche, Africa Foundation demonstrate to representatives how the water rollers work
Life Line West Rand is a non-profit organisation ,affiliated to Life Line International. It boasts some 30 years of counselling experience, and has thus become a professional service to people in crisis.
This service is provided twenty-four hours to all members of the community, by multi-skilled counsellors who are qualified and dedicated to dispensing of emotional support both telephonically and in person. As a community based volunteer organisation, their endeavour is to involve the community and its resource to achieve its objectives.
In order to address and manage the various dilemmas faced by youth, Life Line West-Rand embarked on a program called "Youth to Youth Community Outreach Project." The project is aimed at developing and uplifting the communities on the West Rand with the assistance of thirty trained and highly motivated outreach team members. To be able to reach every community on the whole of the West Rand area, Life Line thought of establishing special mobile teams to reach out to every church, school and generally wherever youths could be found gathering together.
To reach this goal, Life Line made an appeal to IBM, outlining some of their dire needs. IBM responded to this plea by donating three computers and three Lexmark printers, with a total value of R 33 000.
A Mandewo shaking hands with Ms Magriet Visser, Co-ordinator Youth Line - Life Line West Rand. Around are members of the West Rand Youth to Youth Community Outreach Teams.
The South African Music Education Trust (SAMET) - a non-profit organisation - was founded in 1994 by a group of trustees representing diverse sectors of the world, in conjunction with commerce and education. SAME focuses on bringing music education to communities in disadvantaged areas throughout South Africa., its main objective being to train and develop musicians from disadvantaged communities. Teacher upgrading, performance enhancement and job creation in the music industry are some of the key issues being addressed.
SAMET made a humble plea to IBM to assist in donating computer equipment that could possibly replace their outdated ones: IBM donated two computers and two printers.
Ekupholeni, translated means "Place of healing", which is exactly what this community-based health institution has come to stand for in the areas of Katlehong, Thokoza, Vosloorus and the surrounding informal settlements. It strives to reach individuals, families, groups and communities that have become victims of poor mental health through factors of political, domestic and criminal violence, unemployment, and severe poverty to mention just a few. It endeavours to engage these in a holistic process of healing, recovery and empowerment. The team consists of eight Community Care Workers, one clinical psychologist, two mental health workers both holding masters degrees in community psychology and two social workers.This health care centre provides mental health services on three levels (1) Individual Face-to -face counselling (2) Group counselling (3) Community mental health development projects.
IBM saw fit to donate R 10 000 to this institution.
The Johannesburg Institute of Social Services is a Child and Family Welfare organisation, established in 1934. They render a wide range of services that are geared towards protecting, conserving, promoting and encouraging the development, interests and general welfare of individuals, families and communities. One of the projects undertaken by this organisation is a computer training programme. However with just one computer to be used for training purposes and for compiling reports by the social workers, progress is stunted, and tutoring has become increasingly difficult.
The Johannesburg Institute of Social Services made an earnest appeal to IBM, to consider sponsoring computers to their centre. IBM was more than happy to donate two new workstations and two printers, with a total value of R 22 000.
The Foundation for Economic & Business Development (FEBDEV) recently undertook what they called the Enterprise Development project at technical colleges and technikons. The success of this prompted the proposal of a similar project at schools, named as The Hands-On Enterprise Development Project. Entrepreneurial activities such as tourism, farming activities, marketing experiences and community activities will all be incorporated into the school curriculum, with educators being empowered and properly trained to implement these entrepreneurial opportunities. These teachers will be trained and provided with the resources necessary for developing opportunities and acting as role models for learners by being enterprising, problem-solving change-agents.
In response to their request for assistance IBM has pledged a sum of R 56 000 which would go toward the funding of a Gauteng school for an entire year.
Left to right:
A Mandewo - Corp Community Relations Manger, Noma James - Executive Director - The Foundation for Economic & Business Development and Mr G. Hadebe - Principal - Aha Thuto Secondary School.
A thoroughly researched assessment of deaf education in South Africa revealed that certain shortcomings in the field of deafness were producing a less than ideal education for the deaf community of South Africa: Despite the various successful structures within South Africa that catered to the needs of the deaf, there was no department that focused solely on the education of teachers of the deaf. Further there was no established training of teachers of the deaf that included the very necessary aspects of Sign Language, Deaf Culture, and the cognitive development of the Deaf learner. It was these factors that prompted the University of the Witwatersrand to undertake the mammoth task of establishing a specific programme in Deaf education at its university.
The work in deaf education at the university has a three fold focus: (1) Teaching : Deaf education has developed three post graduate course options for teachers of the deaf. (2) Research : Developing a base of expertise within the South African Deaf Community by endeavouring to train and involve deaf researchers and research assistants wherever possible. (3) Community service and Outreach : Workshops and seminars for teachers of the deaf, tailored to meet their unique needs on site are held.
IBM made a generous donation of R 10 000, to be used for the furtherance of this very worthy endeavour.
Woodside Sanctuary provides a haven for abused and handicapped children. It provides round-the-clock residential care for children with severe mental and physical handicaps. Children from all South Africa are accepted, from birth, onwards, regardless of race. Founded in 1955 by a couple who couldn't bear to place their handicapped baby in an institution, the sanctuary today houses 117 permanent residents in six wards, with many more awaiting admission.
Woodside Sanctuary is situated in Auckland Park. In the main, it is a self supporting organisation but has recently begin depending heavily on support from the public. Funds are also raised by sending out mail appeals thrice a year to donors, companies and trusts. Also the sale of Christmas cards and stationery as well as hosting of various functions forms another source of income.
To assist Woodside Sanctuary effectively continue in their praiseworthy efforts, IBM generously donated two computers and two printers to this establishment.
Various other schools benefited from generous contributions of IBM computer equipment and training for administrative purposes. Requests for donations are received daily and each of the following schools have benefited:
The Key School for Children with Autism
St Angar's College
Tshilidzi Primary School
Shalom Manne Primary School
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IBM on a roll with donation of Hippo Water Rollers