This year Netcare honoured the memory of Madiba and his selfless service to our country by taking their core value of care to those less fortunate. Staff and management from Netcare 911, Netcare head office and Netcare hospitals around the country got behind a variety of initiatives that support the underprivileged.
One of the projects involved Netcare 911 sponsoring and building a new two-roomed home for the Matjila family in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, in partnership with Afrika Tikkun, a non-governmental and public benefit organisation that is focused on the sustainable transformation of communities. The family’s old, weather-beaten shack was demolished and in its place a new structure with proper flooring, roofing, windows and insulation was constructed by Netcare 911’s executive team.
Pic: Craig Grindell, Netcare 911 chief operating officer and Jannie Bronkhorst, Netcare 911 general manager industrial operations, two members of the Netcare 911 Executive team, work on putting up the walls of the Matjila family's home in Diepsloot.
The six-member Matjila family was also overwhelmed with gifts for their new home, such as three bunk beds and bedding, a primus stove, and crockery, cutlery and pans, which were all sponsored by Netcare 911 staff. Kate Matjila, a widow who looks after her family on the meagre income she gets from selling sweets, was overcome with emotion when she saw her new house. “Now I can keep my family safe and warm. It means so much to us,” she says.
Netcare Head Office supported those in need by holding a Pregnancy Pamper Day for 15 pregnant young girls from Alexandra and from Fatima House in Pretoria. Fatima House provides a safe facility for pregnant women and girls and assists them with access to education, skills development and guidance to reconcile with their families.
For the Pregnancy Pamper Day, each young woman was given a health checkup, received breastfeeding advice, had a four-dimensional (4D) scan of her baby, and attended an antenatal class. They were also treated to hand and foot massages from Glitter Pixies and entertainment from local hip hop dance group, Rogue Crew. Netcare staff sponsored new baby blankets and each mother-to-be received a basket full of goodies for her and her baby.
Netcare hospitals around South Africa also reached out to help those in need on Mandela Day. For example, staff members from Netcare N1 City Hospital and Netcare Oncology gave a few hours of their time to the young patients at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in the Western Cape. In addition, they donated 20 hand-knitted knee rugs and jerseys to children at the hospital.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the staff and management at Netcare Umhlanga Hospital assisted with LIV Village’s ‘Going Bananas for Mandela’ programme, which entailed spending the day in the LIV banana plantation. LIV provides holistic residential care for orphaned and vulnerable children. The organisation aims to grow all its own food and eventually become self-sustainable, so the objective of the day was to give attention to the healthy banana trees and also to clear the unproductive trees out of the plantation to make space for the extension of LIV’s vegetable garden.
“Nelson Mandela remains a great inspiration for South Africa and the world. The legacy he left behind encourages all of us to help those in need and get involved in projects which aim to change our world for the better. In this way, we can build a global movement for good. Netcare is honoured to be a part of these initiatives and will continue to support such worthy causes,” concludes Mande Toubkin, general manager emergency, trauma, transplant and CSI at Netcare.
Ends
Issued by: Martina Nicholson Associates (MNA) on behalf of Netcare
Contact: Martina Nicholson, Sarah Beswick, Graeme Swinney or Jillian Penaluna
Telephone: (011) 469 3016
Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected]