SAB team up with KZN Department of Education to fit needy children with school shoes
The South African Breweries Ltd (SAB), in partnership with the KZN Department of Education, launched a project that will see 5 000 school children across the Province receive school shoes with specially developed reflective strips to promote pedestrian safety.
SAB, supported by the Bobs for Good foundation, developed a unique and innovative safety shoe with built-in reflective technology which serves to draw attention to children walking during twilight hours and in the dark as well as to make them more visible to drivers. The shoe is 100% developed and manufactured in South Africa. The equally distinctive shoe boxes include educational pedestrian safety tips for children and parents.
Children from four schools situated in the Pinetown education district were the recipients of the partnership’s first shoe drop. The MEC for Education, Mr Senzo Mchunu, SAB representatives and the Bobs for Good team, personally fitted approximately 200 children from Shembe, Mount Royal, Ethekweni and Siboniswe Primary schools with the specially made shoes.
Beneficiaries are selected based on two factors:
A real and genuine need for school shoes based on the economic circumstance of the learner;
Where children will need to walk significant distances to and from school or to a bus stop
The initiative is aligned to SAB’s alcohol strategy which focuses on tackling alcohol abuse. The strategy, which was conceptualized after an in-depth global and local study, aims to combat the abuse of drinking and encourage responsible consumption. It centres on developing and implementing programmes that will have a real impact on the victims of alcohol abuse and focuses on alcohol-induced road deaths; Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and underage drinking.
Road deaths, including car and pedestrian deaths, are the biggest killer of schoolchildren aged 10-14 years in South Africa and the second biggest in the 5-9 year age group. Experts estimate that a proportion of these deaths are caused by drunk drivers. These incidents peak between 4pm and 7pm, when children are returning home from school or playing (often in or adjacent to the street). World Health Organisation research also indicated that some of the best interventions in addressing pedestrian deaths in children was education (both to parents and children) as well as the use of reflective apparel.
The Bobs for Good foundation, which focuses its efforts on impoverished children who walk lengthy distances to and from school, was identified as an ideal supplier to SAB for this initiative due to the synergies in their target audience.
Dr Vincent Maphai, Executive Director of Corporate Affairs and Transformation, commented: “The partnership is a meeting of minds. At SAB we are committed to investing in initiatives that make real, social change. We have a firm belief that this partnership will bring real, tangible benefits to the schoolchildren we are able to reach, and that their safety will be helped by these unique shoes”.
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