Wildlands a well-known environmental non-profit organization, in partnership with Unilever – Knorr, held a successful event at Ukukhanya Kwelanga Primary school in Chesterville (Durban) yesterday, where underprivileged learners were handed educational kits made from Knorr repurposed soup shelves.
Also partnering with Knorr on this initiative is MH Moosa Protective Workshops. MH Moosa Protective Workshops is an employment facility for approximately 150 mentally challenged people under the auspices of the Pietermaritzburg Mental Health Society.
This is an exciting initiative which provides schools with upcycled educational material made from Knorr Soup shelves. Thousands of these cardboard shelves used in stores around the country to display soups, have been ‘re-purposed’ to create teaching aids for underprivileged schools. The Knorr units were pre-printed with numbers, letters and sums before going into stores for the big winter soup season in 2015.
By re-purposing and distributing used point-of-sale shelves, Unilever aims to substantially reduce their contribution to landfill and at the same time make a difference in the lives of school learners. To kick off the roll out of this project this year, 275 children (Grade R and Grade 1) of Ukukhanya Kwelanga Primary school and their teachers received Knorr kits to be used at home and in their classrooms as teaching aids. As part of the festivities, children were also served a delicious hot chicken stew meal, made with the tasty flavours of Knorr Soup.
Knorr marketing manager Dudu Zwane states, “Our educational kits are small but they have had a big impact both on education and the environment! Most rewarding for us is seeing our shelves -which would have ended up as waste in landfill sites – being cherished and used by students to learn their numbers and alphabets at home.”
“Seeing such a meaningful event come to life made us feel honored to be part of an organization that seeks to educate, develop and create awareness around the importance of sustaining our environment and surroundings,” said Siphindile Moloi, Wildlands’ Sustainable Schools Relationship Manager.” Ukukhanya Kwelanga is situated in a community where Wildlands already has a footprint and to see children with sparkles in their eyes and so much joy was the highlight of this special day. We would really like to thank Unilever and Knorr for partnering with us in making this educational event a success,” said Moloi.
“It is important for our pupils to learn that waste material is one of the most important commodities that can empower communities and that is why they should always participate in saving the environment at an early age. As a school, we are also very strict about cleanliness because we believe that it is conducive to learning,” said Ukukhanya Kwelanga Primary School Principal Mrs. Loretta Hlophe. Hlophe also went on to thank Unilever, Knorr as well as Wildlands for making this project happen and making sure that Ukukhanya Kwelanga Primary School is part of such an amazing initiative.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)