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24/06/09 – Special event marks adoption of the Adelaide Tambo School for the Physically Challenged |
After a two year relationship where the Gift of the Givers Foundation assisted the Adelaide Tambo School in Jabavu, Soweto, the disaster relief NGO officially adopted the school on June 24, 2009, in a ceremony held at the school. The auspicious occasion was graced by Ms Mapule Ramasedi, Deputy Chief Educator in the Partnersip Unit, Gauteng Department of Education. At the function, Gift of the Givers (GOTG) emphasized their commitment to the learners and educators of the school, that they will build two classrooms, a library and a staff room, upgrade the clinic, install a remote clinic, assist with the development of the sports field, and commit to continue providing groceries for the hostel kitchen and material for the skills based classes. The architectural plans for the building extension are already available.Speeches were given by Ms Mapule Ramasedi from the Gauteng Department of Education, Mr Zondi the Ward Councillor, Thandi Shongwe and Allauddin Sayed from GOTG, Lindela Memani the school principal, and Mr M. Komane, the School Governing Body Representative. The guests were also treated to excellent recitals from a choir and comedy and a skit from two very talented learners. The event ended with lunch and hearts full of hope and pride.
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15/06/09 - Minister of Social Development graces Cape Town function |
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Gift of the Givers has made co-operation with governments an integral part of its procedure in disaster response and aid delivery both in South Africa and internationally. In a 16 year period we have delivered R300 million of aid to millions of people in 25 countries. In virtually every international mission we have been partnered or assisted by the South African Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and, at times, the President's office.
Whilst our international work is highly regarded and is extensively known, the scope of our local work in South Africa has not been fully grasped, yet it is substantially greater than all our international disaster response activities. Our relationship with the Department of Social Development goes back to 2002, when Gift of the Givers responded to the hunger crisis in the Eastern Cape where 166 children died of starvation.
Gift of the Givers was the only organisation that responded with 2,000 food parcels,which led to the then-Minister of Social Development, Dr Zola Skweyiya, requesting us to design a food parcel programme for South Africa, which we duly did. We were appointed by the Minister's office to roll out 204,000 food parcels in KZN and Eastern Cape for which we were given R60 million, a clear manifestation in our ability to deliver, as no NGO in the history of South Africa has ever been given this extent of funding by government. The blueprint we designed had to be replicated in the other seven provinces.
Our relationship with various ministeries has grown exponentially over the years. Partnering the Department of Health, we deployed 20 containerised primary health care units in various parts of South Africa. This containerised concept was an innovation, created by us, and a world first. We also try to adhere to the principles of social responsibility and the policy being adhered by government in our own proactive activities in South Africa. Our activities have been acknowledged by government with various Ministers, Premiers, etc gracing our activities with their presence.
On Monday, 15 June 2009, we will once again be honoured as the new Minister of Social Development, Ms Edna Molewa, graces our function in Khayelitsha. In keeping with our efforts to serve the disadvantaged citizens of our beautiful country we are carrying out a major social responsibility programme here. This is also to symbolise the recent opening of a Gift of the Givers office in Cape Town in January 2009.
The event takes place at Luleka Primary School at 10am. At the event:
- 1,000 stationery packs will be distributed
- 1,500 sweet packs
- 3,000 blankets
- 2,000 litres of bottled water
- 120 bottles of Sibusiso Ready Food Supplement
- 100 food parcels
- 3,000 people will be fed as part of our feeding scheme programme
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09/06/09 - Nutritional support to the Malawian Defence Force |
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As part of Gift of the Givers ongoing nutritional supplement support
programme, the GOTG Malawi office provided 2,160 jars of Sibusiso, a
high energy and protein supplement, valued over Mk 2million (R100,000), to the Malawian
Defence Force.
“We have
previously provided similar interventions to the civil service through the HIV
& AIDS Department in the Office of President & Cabinet, the Malawian
Police Service and Teachers under the Ministry of Education,” said Ahmed Sunka,
Country Manager.
To mark the donation, a function was held at Kamuzu Barracks in Lilongwe on Tuesday,
June 9, 2009.
The Defense Force's representative, the Director of Health Services, Dr. Banda,
accepted the timely donation and advised that it would not only serve the
soldiers and their families, but the communities surrounding the barracks as
well.
“In appreciation of the Force's sacrifice, efforts and hard work, we pledged to
continue supporting the army from time to time, wherever possible,” said Sunka.
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09/06/09 - Winter Warmer Outreach in Johannesburg tonight! |
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Global meltdown, economic recession, negative growth,
bankruptcies, massive job losses with resultant hunger and general misery are
the order of the day. As conscious human beings do we become self centred,
focussing only on our predicament or do we realise that there are those in far
greater need than ourselves; men, women and children, crying out to fellow
being to assist in these challenging times. As conscious beings, our
spirituality and compassion as South Africans compels us to serve fellow
Africans with an even greater spirit of generosity, which has always been the
hallmark of South African society.
We invite you, as members of the South African family,
irrespective of your country of origin, to join the Gift of the Givers Team at
our offices at 43 Mint Road, Fordsburg, tonight at around 6.30pm as we prepare to deliver blankets
and high energy and protein supplements to the homeless and hungry in and
around Johannesburg. This project will be jointly undertaken with the SAPS who
will be making 10 vehicles available for the event.
This is only one aspect of our Winter Warmth project which
is the largest on the African continent. The campaign commenced on May 20, 2009, and distribution has taken place at
several locations already. As part of this project we:
1. Have on standby
100,000 new blankets; these are augmented by further blanket contributions from
corporate companies and the public.
2. Distribute new
clothing and new shoes.
3. Are feeding increasing
numbers of hungry people through our expanding feeding schemes.
4. Are distributing food
parcels.
5. Are making available
high energy and protein supplements to the most vulnerable. This product is a
world first and developed by Gift of the Givers.
We need all South Africans to stand together in these
difficult times in order to expand the reach of this campaign to benefit our
people in dire circumstances. The media, corporates, private individuals,
schools and other institutions are all encouraged to participate vibrantly. New
blankets (excluding grey and doggie blankets), new clothes, jerseys,
tracksuits, jackets, school uniforms, non-perishable food items and whatever of
quality is deemed beneficial can be dropped off at our offices. Blankets can
also be purchased at our offices at R40 per blanket.
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