Ububele Early Childhood Centre in Kew is brightened up with an upgrade
KEW – Volkswagen employees take time off to give their time freely to the renovation of an early childhood development centre.
The Volkswagen Show of Hands Volunteer Programme has come to the aid of Ububele Early Childhood Centre in Kew and changed the lives of 65 children and their families by upgrading the centre.
The centre, which looks after children aged two to six years from Alexandra, received a makeover from 130 employees from the Volkswagen South Africa’s Sandton offices, their friends and families.
Ububele, which means kindness, focuses on improving the emotional development of the children they care for. Research has shown that for a child to develop into a healthy, happy and productive adult, he or she needs physical and emotional care, support and development.
“This is why Volkswagen decided to offer a helping hand in support of Ububele in their mission to help children to grow up into happy, productive adults,” said Thomas Schaefer, chairperson and managing director of Volkswagen South Africa.
The programme requires its employees to freely give of their own time to improve the lives of those less fortunate, and on that score, they were able to renovate the centre to create a conducive learning environment for the children.
They did this by brightening up the centre with paint and murals, provided maintenance to the ablution facilities, installed much-needed cupboards and bookshelves for the children as well as upgraded and beautified the play area.
The employees also planted a vegetable and herb garden which will provide the centre with much-needed fresh produce to help with the children’s nutritional requirements.
“As a company, we know that investing in early childhood development is the most powerful investment in human capital that a company can ever make and therefore we continue to invest in centres like Ububele.
“It is important for us to not only invest the money but to physically be involved in the upgrades and renovations,” Schaefer said, adding that the programme was an ongoing initiative under the Volkswagen for Good Campaign, which mainly focuses on education and youth development.
Edited by Stacey Woensdregt
Tell us the difference you notice today at Ububele after the renovation work of VWSA employees. Tweet @AlexNewsZA to share your thoughts.
