Ithala Group Marketing CSI initiative supports school community garden
Ithala Group Marketing recently travelled deep into the rural heart of KwaZulu-Natal to donate gardening implements to Ntingwe Combined Primary School at Inkandla. The school is located at the Ntingwe Tea Estate which is managed by Ithala.
The tools included hoes, digging forks, spades, watering cans, seedlings, trees and fertilizer. Speaking at the handover ceremony, Ntingwe Tea Estate Chairperson Nhlanhla Khambule said the donation was in line with Ithala’s mandate of fostering community development and social empowerment. Mr Khambule said the Tea Estate was ready to assist with skills which would benefit the existing gardening programme.
Acting Executive: Group Corporate Services, Tozi Mthethwa told learners and teachers that they could also sell their fresh produce to the local community for a profit and plough much needed funds back into the school.
Ntombini Ngema, who is responsible for the school’s gardening programme, thanked Ithala for the gesture. She said the gardening programme also provided vegetables for the school’s feeding scheme. “Previously we struggled because we did not have gardening tools, particularly watering cans, and we are very grateful to Ithala for this donation,” she said.
The school has also experienced difficulty with its water supply and Ntingwe Tea Estate has undertaken to provide assistance in this regard, an offer warmly welcomed by school officials, learners and local community leaders.
The majority of learners parents work on the Tea Estate, which was established to provide valuable job opportunities in this remote area of the Province. Ntingwe produces high quality black and green tea which is sold locally and exported to overseas markets.