Leading South African apple and pear exporter Betko has teamed up with the Tutu Family in supporting a special education project, launched in Cape Town, to commemorate the life and times of former President Nelson Mandela.
Betko’s finest apples have been handed out to children from Cape Town’s townships who visited the project in at the city's Waterfront during the past week.
There to receive the gift of fruit was Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as well as the Reverend Mpho Tutu, executive director of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.
This year the Foundation chose a project that involved converting old containers into class rooms and kitchens for care centres in the townships as its contribution to the Mandela Day remembrance celebrations.
“We were delighted to respond to the Foundation’s request to supply apples for the week-long programme because we recognised that good nutrition forms a vital part of total education,” said Roux Groenewald, marketing director of Betko.
“The generosity of the people of Betko has warmed our hearts and we were delighted to see the children enjoying the delicious and fresh apples,” noted Archbishop Tutu.
The Legacy Container Project is coordinated by an NGO called Breadline Africa, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom. Old and rusty containers are stripped down and converted to class rooms, kitchens and toilet facilities and then placed on site at care centres in the rural townships where there are no such facilities.
“These facilities are really making a difference in the poorest of the poor areas,” added Archbishop Tutu, at the presentation of Betko’s apples to the Legacy Foundation. “By working with us, Betko, which has its own big community of workers on its farms and in its packhouse, has shown that its caring attitude extends far beyond Villiersdorp where it is based.”
During the week commemorating former president Mandela’s life, two converted containers were on display at the Clock Tower area in Cape Town’s Waterfront near the Legacy Foundation’s offices and the Nelson Mandela Gateway centre from where people depart to visit Robben Island. Archbishop Tutu was in good form and along with the Reverend Mpho Tutu took time out to enjoy the fruit with the children from the townships.
