Nerve Events: Get educated and stop this tsunami

Nerve Events: Get educated and stop this tsunami: Guest speaker Louise Molyneaux representing Diabetes SA laying down the bare facts of the Diabetes Tsunami hitting the world at the DWF L...

Nerve Events: Get educated and stop this tsunami

Nerve Events: Get educated and stop this tsunami: Guest speaker Louise Molyneaux representing Diabetes SA laying down the bare facts of the Diabetes Tsunami hitting the world at the DWF L...

Doing good does transform

More than 200 Volunteers from NPC and their suppliers came together on 19^th August 2018 to celebrate InterCement’s International Day of Doing Good (DODG). 

This enthusiastic troop of volunteers rolled up their sleeves, put on their gloves and toiled away on a beautiful Sunday morning with the aim of leaving a positive mark in the community.

The activities took place at many locations in Kwa-Zulu Natal including Bellair Primary School in Sarnia Road. The project for this school was to transform the play areas by painting and repairing the jungle gyms and benches around the school and the creation of a brand new sports field.

With much enthusiasm and effort, an old damaged tennis court was transformed into a beautiful field of green grass covering an area of 36 square metres, fit for any future sports star to train on. 

The Day of Doing Good started in 2013 and since then takes place annually in August. The Plant 

The satisfying end result

management team together with the Community Interaction and Volunteer Involvement Committee (CIVICO) under the leadership of Transformation Manager Smangele Tshabalala identifies organizations near their cement plants around the province, who qualify to receive some assistance as part of their Day of Doing Good programme. Once the needs are identified with these beneficiaries, planning gets underway for these social projects.

This year the DODG took place at Bellair Primary School in Bellair, Siphakamile Primary School in Bobhoyi Location Port Shepstone and Izazi High School in oSizweni Newcastle. Also part of the programme were Zibambeleni Old Age Home and Crèche in Margate and Umthombomuhle Primary School in Cliffdale Outer West Durban.

Newly appointed CEO of InterCement South Africa, Mr Jorge Reis was delighted with the turnout. He has witnessed numerous DODG programmes in other countries such as Portugal and Mozambique and was impressed by the actions taken by the South African InterCement employees and partners.

Jorge comments “The DODG is something special, being in a position to make a change in other people’s lives. We are grateful that we can achieve these goals with the help of our colleagues, our employees and our suppliers who are all like-minded in doing good today. I believe that the children are going to be very happy tomorrow when they see their new sports field for the first time. As a company DODG is very important to us as we can be a part of positive change and uplift our communities.”

Mrs Di Landman HOD Foundation Phase and Grade 1 teacher of Bellair Primary School was overwhelmed: “Thank you Natal Portland Cement (NPC) and all the volunteers! Your day of doing good was fun-filled, exciting and action-packed. This was a wonderful example of what can be achieved by committed people working together towards a common goal. NPC successfully displayed what "Ubuntu" is all about. The children were thrilled to arrive at school on Monday morning and to see the transformation of their play area. How lovely to look out of the windows and see the lush grass waiting to be played on. The day was a huge success!

 

Director of HR, Legal and Supply Chain Mr Edney Vieira commented, “The DODG is a project that InterCement implements globally. One of our main company principles is to build sustainable partnerships. I do not see any better way of embracing this principle than by what we are doing today. It is very inspiring for all and hopefully one day it will be spread out to the whole of South Africa.” 

So as the sun sets on another successful activation, the transformation team will continue to look for more projects that will make a positive change in their communities. In so doing they continue InterCement’s legacy of Doing Good around the world and in its own way strive to make the world a better place for all.

Words & Photography
Paul Godwin / Nerve Communications 2018

Durban Wellness Festival - Entry Form 2018

Nerve Events: Durban Wellness Festival - date announced for 2018...

Nerve Events: Durban Wellness Festival - date announced for 2018...: Heads up and please Save the Date The Annual Durban Wellness Festival - Global Diabetes Walk will take place on the Durban Beachfront  ...

Onward and Upward for Phambili High

Last year 2017 ended on another high note for Phambili High School in Rossburgh. Additional milestones were achieved with pupils and staff having reason to celebrate. The school enjoyed a 68.8% matric pass rate, which is an increase of 8.7% from 2016.

Principal Londo Luthuli is very pleased with the continuing progress of the students and comments “ The learners want to be educated at Phambili High School. They want to improve their results and enjoy the favourable atmosphere at the school which is proving highly conducive to studying. The science lab and library have played a significant part in the success story and we are also seeing more quality students at the school and responsible parents who view the school as a positive educational training ground for their children.”  

A significant part of the school’s success has come as a direct result of the sponsorship of a science lab and library from local cement manufacturer NPC/Intercement.

Traditionally Phambili High School was seen as an institution that catered for low-income families and students who encountered social problems in other schools. However this view is changing and more families are seeing the value of quality education that the school is providing.

Two students who are benefitting from the generosity of NPC/Intercement’s sponsorship of the Science lab and Library, are 18 year old Luyanda Ntanzi (Montclair) and 19 year old Ian Lamula (Seaview). Both these students are hard at work, taking full advantage of the positive and productive atmosphere that Phambili provides, in order to prepare themselves for a bright future.

Petite Luyanda Ntanzi (Montclair) is all smiles as she relates her plans for the future with her main subjects being Physical Science and Pure Maths. She is aspiring for a place at a University in Cape Town  - “ I want to study either medicine or mechanical engineering. My father is a mechanic and I often help him work on cars. I love watching him and assisting and find it very rewarding once a job is completed. My Mother would like me to study medicine so we will see what happens. I also enjoy reading and my favourite book is currently John Kani’s  - Nothing but the Truth.”

This is a very interesting young lady indeed and she goes on to say, “Dedication is one of the most important things that I aspire to. To be successful in life and as a student today you need to think out of the box, respect people and one must not be selfish. Take advantage of opportunities. I love my school and my teachers and I thank them for their support this year”.

Local young learner Ian Lamula (Seaview) while slightly more reserved and a bit shy, is raring to go as he has already applied to UKZN and is waiting for his June results to send through to the university.  An avid chess player, Ian is keen to pursue a career in medicine with aspirations of becoming a surgeon.  Ian’s main subjects are maths and physical science and he loves working in the science lab any chance he gets.

“I am part of a group of students who call ourselves the “Phambili Support Group” . We are a group of friends and like-minded students who work after school on projects involving life science, maths and physical science. We are very competitive between ourselves and we have internal competitions to push each other in our studies. I am of the belief that studying maths and science is not about intelligence but rather it is about hard work and dedication. The more you study and apply yourself, commendable results will follow. As students we are also impressed at the improvement of many learners due to the science lab and library.”

 

Head of Department for Maths, Science and Technology - Miss Zandile Langa B.ed(Hons) is also a Phambili fan. Zandile has been HOD at Phambili since 2014 and has seen excellent results and is proud to be a part of the ethos that is Phambili High School.

“With a steady increase of matric students every year, 701 in 2013 and 1013 in 2018 the positive results are still climbing,” Zandile comments “ We are enrolling more students every year and we are seeing the students working harder and the results are showing this trend. We are finding that parents are becoming more supportive every year and learners are more prepared to learn. Collectively they are seeing the value of education and in general have a very positive outlook on their futures. This makes our job easier and we thoroughly enjoy working with enthusiastic students. I have been teaching for 17 years. It is my passion and seeing good results every year is very encouraging. I also enjoy it when past students visit us. We encourage this and invite them to talk to the current students as this helps to motivate them.”

In 2015 NPC/Intercement funded Phambili High School, an under-performing school in the Durban suburb of Rossburgh. At the time the school was in need of assistance but was a school that most corporate funders would shy away from due to the fact that many of the students were expelled from 'good' schools for poor performance or issues such as violence and substance abuse.

NPC funded the setting up of a brand new library and science laboratory and as a direct result of this intervention, there has been a positive turnaround at Phambili High School, not only in learner performance but other funders now see value in investing in this school.

Smangele Tshabalala Transformation Manager at NPC/ Intercement comments - “It is encouraging to see improvements in learner outcomes at Phambili, our company took a risk and funded this school when it was performing at its worst because we believed every child has potential. All they needed was a conducive environment to facilitate teaching and learning. Congratulations to the learners, the parents, the teachers and management of Phambili for your hard work and partnership.”

Performance Graphs below from 2013 indicate
improvement since corporate funders such as
NPC/Intercement got involved in projects

Story & photographs

Paul Godwin / Nerve Communications

on behalf of NPC a member of Intercement

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