Dorah’s Ark in Roodepoort, Gauteng, has become a familiar name to many Mail & Guardian employees. The newspaper became involved with the soup kitchen run by Dorah Mazibuko and her husband, David, about two years ago and since then has donated clothes and toys to it.
It was the M&G‘s first project in corporate social investment (CSI). Mazibuko is a well-known community leader and M&G marketing executive Lelanie Liebenberg, who liaises with the soup kitchen, said staff from the paper were bowled over by her passion.
”When we heard and saw how she helps her community, we decided this was an initiative we needed to get involved in,” Liebenberg said.
Apart from supporting Mazibuko’s soup kitchen, the paper also teamed up with Dorah’s Ark in a project called Take a Child to School. This focuses on child-headed households, orphans and children with HIV. Mazibuko selected seven girls and two boys from grades three to 12 who would benefit from the project. Schools were selected according to what language the children speak and where they live.
Last year the M&G also supported an educational ”Colgate day” at Dorah’s Ark, where Colgate taught children about dental hygiene. Toothpaste, toothbrushes and soap were handed out to take home. Over Easter, the paper arranged an egg-hunt day with marshmallow chocolate eggs hidden in the garden at Dorah’s Ark. After all the excitement of searching for the eggs, the children had hot dogs and cooldrinks for lunch.
On ”Bean Day” the M&G invited 16 American students to teach children how to grow their own beanstalks. They planted their beans in a jar with cotton wool and received learning material explaining the growth of the beans step by step.
And in July the Johannesburg emergency management services was invited to Dorah’s Ark to educate children and adults on what to do in fire situations. They were taught escape drills in the home, what to do if their clothes catch fire and the emergency telephone number 10177.
Another project the newspaper supports is Vegetables on Wheels. The project was initiated because of the importance of providing meals for children in rural schools. These children often come from child-headed households or are orphans, and only receive one meal a day — at school.
The four schools selected for the project have small kitchens (usually in a shipping container) with gas stoves where soup is prepared. Bread is given when available. The ingredients for the soup as well as the bread come from donations.
Vegetables on Wheels teaches school staff and children how to prepare and maintain a vegetable garden. This will help to make these schools sustainable by providing their own vegetables for their soup kitchen. It is also educational, giving teachers the opportunity to show the children how plants grow. Any extra vegetables can be sold to the community and the proceeds used to assist schools.
Vegetables on Wheels will provide each school with a wheelie bin with the following items: spade, fork, rake, vegetable seedlings (winter and summer), hosepipe or watering can and mesh netting if necessary. Compost will be provided separately. Garden suppliers the Colourful Nursery Group will sponsor gardening tools as well as their services to educate the teachers and children in gardening.
In June 2006 the M&G, with the assistance of Pick n Pay, ran a blanket drive and received about 1 000 blankets that were donated to Dorah’s Ark, Kingsway Primary School, 70 households in Kliptown and 50 in Orange Farm.
To help feed the hungry, the newspaper also challenged companies and individuals to collect as much soup as possible on July 31 last year. After an amazing response of soup donations from companies around Johannesburg as well as its own employees, the M&G distributed soup and blankets to institutions for the underprivileged.
A simultaneous blanket drive was held with Pick n Pay and more than 1 500 blankets and 2 000 soup packets were distributed to institutions such as Durban Deep Primary School, Gateway School and the Zenzele Orphanage Project.
And in December last year the M&G took 40 disadvantaged children to the Johannesburg Zoo for a party. The trip included a ride on the zoo ferry to get a closer look at the animals.