THE Wednesday lunchtime of September 9 brought a modicum of cheer in the day of the young patients of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital when an entourage of Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa accompanying its president, Neale Hill, visited the hospital to handover 350 custom created bears, to them.
The occasion formed part of the world renowned motor brand’s Mandela Month initiative in which employees at its Silverton and Struandale assembly and engine plants took part in a shared act of service they referred to as, Mandela Bear Magic, by creating the cuddly toys for the ‘Lilliputians’.
The handover had commenced at the NMCH’s reception with an addresses by the hospital’s CEO, Dr Nkuli Boikhutso and Ford Motor Company Africa Operations president, Neale Hill, before the institution’s Stakeholder Engagement Officer Candise Matjila readout the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Promise – a sort of manifesto detailing the mutual obligations betwixt the hospital and patients.
Thereafter, the entourage – which consisted of stakeholders such as representatives of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, as well as members of the media corps – were taken on a walkabout of the hospital’s differently colour-coded sections to hand over the bears to the patients in their wards.
The bears of varying hues and dress had attached onto them, a symbolic birth certificate spotting both the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and Ford’s logos – flourished with wishes such as: I will grow up to be a doctor.
According to a media release issued for the handover by Ford, each bear – which had handwritten messages of encouragement for the young patients – was lovingly created, dressed and personalised by employees from its Pretoria and Gqeberha plants nominated by their skill team leads.
One of the volunteers tasked with creating the toys, Tarryn Knight, Ford’s Head of Marketing was reduced to tears while she described to those attending the handover – the process behind their creation which also entailed a small heart being inserted in it before it was sealed with a kiss and a special wish for the child who would receive it.
It must have been a heartwrenching experience for the adult visitors to encounter some of the patients (one was 14-days-old) in their varying infirmed conditions – a reality which brought into perspective Ford South Africa’s commitment to communities in which it operates, while it continues its relationship with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund’s family of institutions such as the hospital.
The media release further explained that the Mandela Bear Magic initiative – of which Ford employees dedicated 67 minutes towards the making of the bears – reflected the 67 years Nelson Mandela devoted to public service.
Said Hill, “Our teams gave their time, care and creativity to make each bear personal. Their messages of encouragement carry the spirit in which the bears were made, from our plant floors to children and families at NMCH.”
“Each bear represents an individual act of kindness from an employee at Silverton or Struandale. We are proud of the way our team embraced the initiative and of the opportunity to stand alongside NMCH in supporting South Africa’s children,” concluded the Ford executive.
Top Image Jacob MAWELA (Dr Nkuli Boikhutso -CEO Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, Neale Hill- Ford Motor Company Africa Operations President, and Mpho Mokoena- Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund Events & Sponsorship Specialist.)
