Every day, we as citizens have the opportunity to give back to society. As a company recruitment specialists, PAG encourages its people to actively get involved in the upliftment of their local communities and build long term relationships through the implementation of sustainable projects.
Bonnie Currin, PAG’s GM: Coastal Regions says, ‘PAG has fully embraced the culture of Ubuntu and as a moral imperative requires every one of our branches to identify and support of a community project.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu describes ubuntu as ‘a person that is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.”
In South Africa admittedly this can be very challenging for businesses and individuals where constitutionally we recognise 11 official languages, generational, gender and political diversity. The world is dynamic with every person bringing something unique into it.
PAG realises that each person is unique and everyone deserves a chance and a platform to shine and therefore places the culture of ubuntu at the forefront of their business. The PAG branches in the Eastern Cape Region have championed three worthy initiatives.
In East London the staff repainted the Glen Stella Children’s Home, assisted in the upgrade of the facility and ensured its playgrounds are safe and secure. Recently the staff also provided warm winter jackets to each of the 52 children who are cared for at the orphanage.
A children’s Haven in Port Elizabeth is totally reliant on donations, and cares for children who have been orphaned or whose parents are too ill to take care of them. The PE branch came to the rescue and provided a House Mother to assist in making the children’s meals, cleaning the premises, and caring for the children.
The children’s Haven also desperately required renovation, and our staff took up the task of painting the Haven and mending the broken furniture. This was a wonderful experience of ubuntu and working together to help better the lives of these children.
Another community focus of the region involves skills development initiatives. PAG are sponsoring a disadvantaged student in a work readiness programme for young adults aspiring to enter the workplace.
Through PAG’s participation in the curriculum, the students have the opportunity of gaining skills transference from recruitment specialists on compiling a CV and conducting themselves in an interview process.
PAG in the Eastern Cape is also facilitating career guidance workshops for people with disabilities in an effort to facilitate their introduction into the workplace. These individuals have not always been accepted in society and PAG is helping to incorporate and assist them in the workplace.
‘We are enthusiastically embracing the culture of Ubuntu through understanding the needs of our local communities in which we are passionately involved.” states Currin.