FUTURELIFE® Mandela Month Smart Nutrition campaign lives on
Mrs Feziwe Gambo, an enthusiastic Principal at House-Kids Educare Centre, an ECD centre located in Ezimbokodweni area, south of Durban, sits at her office preparing for her day whilst also watching her children arrive to a bowl of FUTURELIFE® porridge. For many of the children in her centre, this is usually their first meal. Feziwe is filled with contentment as she knows that this meal will be enough to kick start their day and give them the much-needed energy and nutrition to begin learning in the right way.
Thanks to the South African public and corporate donors, this highly nutritious breakfast scenario is now being played out across more than 2 000 ECD Centres in KwaZulu-Natal and many more nationwide. Thousands more children are receiving regular meals due to the FUTURELIFE® Mandela Month campaign and according to FUTURELIFE® Managing Director, Mark Bunn, they are more than halfway towards reaching the company’s goal of distributing over five million meals through various partners and initiatives.
“Every day an estimated 2,8 million children in South Africa go to bed hungry.1 This is an unimaginable statistic that bares devasting consequences,” says Mark. “The early years in a child’s life are critical to both their physical and cognitive development. It goes without saying that these children will have trouble growing and learning because of consistent nutritional deprivation.”
Inspired by Nelson Mandela, FUTURELIFE® decided to act in July this year.
Partnering with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the company appealed to the public and corporates for donations to help it reach more children in need with highly nutritious meals. In addition, the partners are also working to build an ECD Centre to give more children access to preschool education.
The campaign, says Mark, raised the awareness that was so desperately needed. He extends his thanks to the South African public, and all the company’s partners and donors who supported the project in its mission to distribute five million meals. “Furthermore, we are also grateful to the social media influencers and media houses who used their platforms to reach a wider audience; they have played a massive role in helping FUTURELIFE®, the Nelson Mandela Foundation & HOPE worldwide South Africa to raise awareness and benefit children in need.”
“With all of this support, we are well on our way to reaching our target,” Mark reports. “All funding received during Mandela Month will be going to the Nelson Mandela Foundation to support their ECD Programme. But it doesn’t end there.”
Mark says that FUTURELIFE® will continue to work with both the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the national NGO, HOPE worldwide SA, which has been collaborating with FUTURELIFE® for many years to address hunger and malnutrition amongst vulnerable children.
“Through valuable partnerships such as these, we will continue to reach more children with better nutrition,” says Mark. “FUTURELIFE® began in 2007 as a social project to help improve the lives of malnourished and disadvantaged people in Sub-Saharan Africa. The aim then was to create the most nutritional product possible at the lowest cost and with total convenience. Through ongoing scientific development, this ethos remains the driving force in the business today and we will continue to use both our products and our brand as a force for good.”
Every child deserves to get the right start in life and Mark believes that it is up to ordinary people to make this happen. “Let’s live every day as if it is Mandela Day,” Mark concludes.
For more information on this initiative and campaign, go to www.futurelife.co.za
1: South Africa – NIDS-CRAM WAVE3 – May 2021 and STATSSA – 2020
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