Phedisang

Since 2001, Imperial Logistics has driven various Corporate Social Responsibility programmes. Some of these programmes are linked to the services that the company provides. Imperial Logistics focuses amongst others on initiatives to ensure the health and safety of its own drivers and provides extensive support to HIV/AIDS projects in partnership with the Road Freight Association (RFA) and the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight industry.

Furthermore, Imperial Logistics supports additional projects aimed at HIV/AIDS education, as well as care and support for people affected by the disease. One such project is Phedišang.

Phedišang is a Northern Sotho (Sepedi) word which means ‘help them to live’. The project strives to do just that by addressing the growing number of orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa impacted by HIV/AIDS and poverty. Imperial Logistics supports Phedišang through various support programmes, including donations.

The mission of Phedišang is to contribute to the basic care of orphans and vulnerable children by providing food, monitoring health and facilitating access to available governmental funding and care in the following framework:

- Leaving the child in a family unit with relatives in their own villages, ensuring they have access to adequate care and support.
- Utilising existing infrastructures to provide the children two well-balanced meals per day. Meals are provided 365 days a year.
- Monitoring the children’s health and ensuring that they have access to the State health system including visits by a Clinic Nurse and access to nearby clinics as well as the local hospital service.
- Collecting all the required documents and having them processed so that the child receives prescribed Government grants on a monthly basis. Once foster carers are receiving grants, they become responsible for the payment of the R100 monthly fee to Phedišang, which releases donor money to fund another child.

The Phedišang project was established in 2002 and today, with the cooperation of communities in adjacent villages in Limpopo, the project cares for and feeds more than 400 children on a daily basis in centres, namely Enable, Turkey, Worcester, Butswana, Sekororo, Moshate and Mankgonyane. The centres are located at community crèches and operated by local committees. A centre comprises a kitchen or under-cover cooking area on the crèche or school’s grounds, a cook assisted by additional cooks to prepare the two well balanced meals per day for the designated orphan and vulnerable children within the community. In addition, volunteers from the local community and the US Peace Corps, act as care-takers, looking after the children and engage them in afternoon activities, including life skills workshops for boys and girls, netball, soccer and other ball sports, painting, plays, singing and many more.

The orphans and vulnerable children in each village are identified by the local Phedišang committees. Once the children are welcomed into the centres, they become a part of the Phedišang family.

Imperial Logistics became involved with the project in 2004. The company makes annual monetary donations and also provides the centres with office equipment including computers, PC screens, printers, desks and wall units. The company supported by its employees contributes to the children in terms of toys, clothes and bedding. In addition, Imperial Logistics purchases food in bulk at discounted rates from some of its customers and donates it with wood for cooking to Phedišang.

Every year Imperial Logistics visits the Phedišang centres in Limpopo to maintain direct contact and keep in touch with the project, potential developments, requirements and specific needs of the time. Imperial Logistics is proud to be involved with Phedišang and the company is committed to the development and expansion of the project. Phedišang provides Imperial Logistics with the ideal opportunity to continue to demonstrate care and support for HIV/AIDS affected children and communities in South Africa.