IIE MSA Cares dedicate their 67 minutes of impact to two worthy NPOs
Student volunteer body organises female sanitary product donation to ease menstrual stress.
In commemoration of this year’s Nelson Mandela Day, IIE MSA organised two initiatives to celebrate and honour the late great global icon.
Committed to raising awareness about various important social issues, this year focused on menstrual hygiene and hunger alleviation. The committee of IIE MSA Cares, the campus’s student volunteer body, donated over 1 500 sanitary pads to the registered non-profit organisation (NPO) Umnotho for Empowerment in Muldersdrift. Recognising the significance of menstrual hygiene in the daily lives of women and the challenges faced by those who cannot afford sanitary products, IIE MSA took a proactive approach by organising a donation drive on campus.
The organisation provides support to underprivileged communities in the area. This includes food assistance to families in need through a nutrition centre which serves a nutritious lunch to 150 people from the community daily with from their own vegetable gardens. IIE MSA staff and students volunteered their time to assist in preparing and serving community members and even threw in a few hot dogs.
Human resources and administration manager at Umnotho, Lebo Sekhotla said, “As a collective, we strongly believe that these initiatives are all a step in the right direction towards changing the narrative as well as creating more awareness to disadvantaged women, girls and youth.”
In the second of their humanitarian drives, IIE MSA researchers and academic support co-ordinators spent their 67 minutes for Mandela Day at Simunye Projects. The unit prepared and served a healthy lunch and handed out goody bags filled with sweet treats to the 85 children at the centre. The unit also held a stationery drive with its Executive Education students which they handed over to Elrise Bosman, founder and principal of Simunye Projects.
“I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to IIE MSA for choosing to make a difference on Mandela Day,” said Bosman. Head of research and postgraduate studies unit, Marlene Bogaards, elaborated, “The team believes that every child deserves not only an education but a quality education. We, therefore, embarked on this initiative inspired by the late Nelson Mandela who stated that ‘education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’.”
Simunye Projects is a community development NPO established to bring change in the lives of children. The established daycare centre runs with the help of sponsors and community members and currently hosts 85 children. The daycare centre, situated in Pinehaven, continuously seeks ways to widen its reach and impact on children in need.
