Businesses should be established not only to make money, but to also help the community in which they are situated. These words from Chairperson of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc), Albert Adam, provided an apt introduction for well known local developer, Rob Beer, as he officially opened the Sinakho Day Care Centre on Tuesday.
Businesses should be established not only to make money, but to also help the community in which they are situated. These words from Chairperson of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc), Albert Adam, provided an apt introduction for well known local developer, Rob Beer, as he officially opened the Sinakho Day Care Centre on Tuesday.
It was Beer who had sponsored the renovation of two classrooms at Andrew Moyake School in Fingo Village for the centre's use. An initiative of co-ordinator Millicent Manana and the Association for Persons with Physical Disabilities (APD), Beer said the centre was very close to his heart, because his brother had suffered from cerebral palsy.
In his opening speech Rhodes University Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Sizwe Mabizela, congratulated Manana and everyone else involved with the opening of the crèche.
“Children with disabilities have the same right as any other child… may the children who are cared for in this centre find this as a place of hope, where their dignities are upheld,” Mabizela said.
The programme director was APD chairperson Phumlani Chibi, a scientist working at the Albany Museum. He was assisted by Agata Runowicz, the vice chairperson of the APD, who welcomed all guests.
Adam said the government should be playing a leading role in such initiatives and that businesses should be established not only to make money, but to also help the community in which they were situated.
Beer unveiled two plaques for the crèche – one plaque for the Sinakho Day Care Centre and another in honour of his brother, in whose memory the Peter John Beer stimulation room for children with cerebral palsy was named.
A parent who also helped establish the centre was Nomathemba Phaphu. She said she was motivated by the pain that some parents, including she, had suffered. She has a daughter who was born abled but who now, due to illness, cannot see and is unable to walk or eat by herself.
Manana said, “Thanks to Mr Beer. My persistence and constant knocking on his door paid off. I was not doing this for myself. I was doing it for the children.”
