Mining trust donates bus to NC centre
THE SISHEN Iron Ore Company Community Development Trust (SIOC-cdt) recently donated a 31-seater customised bus to the Oasis Skills Development Centre in Upington.
The bus was customised to carry wheelchair-bound pupils and is fitted with a lift to enable easier access.
The R2.3 million donation, which included the bus as well as various therapeutic and stimulation equipment, is part of SIOC-cdt’s Welfare and Disability programme.
The stimulation and therapeutic equipment donated included customised wheelchairs, standing frames, side positioners, cushions, balls and therapy room equipment for the many pupils with disabilities at the centre.
These were manufactured by Uhambo Foundation following individual assessments of each pupil’s mobility requirements and challenges.
Management and volunteers at the centre have been trained in using, assembling and fixing the equipment as required.
Tao Mutsago, head of projects at SIOC-cdt, pointed out that the donation was part of the company’s efforts to promote inclusivity in communities.
SIOC-cdt donated a similar bus to the Helen Bishop Orthopaedic Aftercare Centre in Kimberley in February this year.
The Oasis Skills Development Centre is a non-profit organisation, established in 1999 to provide basic academic education, therapeutic activities, stimulation and skills transfer to people (mostly children) with disabilities.
The centre sustains this goal through revenue generated from ancillary income-generating activities.
Oasis currently has an enrolment of 87 disabled and 11 non-disabled pupils and strives to create work opportunities for unemployed mothers, older persons and the disabled as volunteers in teaching and non-teaching activities.