Bataung Moeketsi
NIEN Hsing Textiles (Lesotho) has donated M30 000 and 200 Thermos food flasks to three local NGOs as part of its Meals for Hope project.
The recipients of this year’s outreach are the Resource Centre for the Blind, St Angela Children’s Centre and SOS Children’s Villages (Lesotho).
The idea stems from the company’s chairman, Richard Chen.
The company’s regional director Filipe Feng said apart from their core business of producing textiles, they also cared about their host communities.
He said they donate to under privileged communities including orphans twice annually as part of their corporate social initiative (CSI).
“We do not only focus on production,” Mr Feng said.
“With more than 10000 workers, we also care about the communities that they live in.
“Twice a year, we reach out to the communities here to identify the needs of orphanages, centres, schools and the local tribes,” he said.
The firm’s sustainability plans involve helping with maintenance issues in the facilities of the NGOs they will visit.
Representatives of the group, led by Mr Feng, included Ricky Cheng (administrations director), Nicole Chih (corporate social responsibility officer) and the company’s five factory managers, James Chen (Nien Hsing International), Pablo Chiang (C&Y), David Huang (Global International), Vincent Yuan (Formosa Textiles) and Johnson Chen (Glory International).
The group visited the Resource Centre for the Blind and St Angela Children’s Centre on 12 September 2019.
Thato Manaka, a teacher at the Resource Centre for the Blind said they were grateful for the assistance.
The boarding institution for learners with disabilities who are normally from needy families or orphans that was founded in 1971, said their operations have grown over the years. She said they started with one teacher and five learners but now have five teachers and 81 learners in grades 1-2.
They follow a regular syllabus and learn how to read braille, use walking sticks and navigate alone in the centre, before being integrated into St Bernadette Primary School.
Ms Manaka said the centre faced challenges that include lack of resources as the learners do not pay school fees. Their situation is also exacerbated by the fact that the government does not have the means to help. She also said they only have 20 braille books.
St Angela Children’s Centre’s chief executive officer (CEO), ‘Mamokhosi Thamae, herself a former student of the institution, also expressed gratitude for the donations.
The institution was founded in 1985 and is home to 35 learners aged six to 22 years.
“For many years our main donor had been Sentebale and they have now decided to take on another mandate to care for people living with HIV and AIDs, so we were left alone,” Ms Thamae said.
The centre also has funding challenges and survives off of its agricultural endeavours, which Ms Thamae says are counteracted by weather related issues.
SOS Children’s Villages celebrated 25 years of service with a charity soccer tournament on 14 September in Lithabaneng, Maseru.
The 22 teams that participated included SOS, Standard Lesotho Bank, Alliance Insurance, Unitrans, Lesotho Correctional Services, Lesotho Planned Parent Hood Association (LPPA), Lesotho National Broadcasting Service (LNBS), Toyota Maseru and others.
In attendance were the Nien Hsing Textiles group, Honourable Dr Mahali Phamotse (Minister of Gender and Youth, Sports and Recreation), SOS board members, Thamae Police and others.
SOS provides “emergency relief as well as permanent aid to vulnerable children and young people in the country”.
Children find placement after the necessary channels have been followed.
“The selection is done by the Ministry of Social Development,” said Molopo Mokorosi (national director).
The wellbeing of its workers, 70 percent of which are women, is of importance to Nien Hsing and so they look to build a positive working relationship between the workers and their supervisors.
“We have monthly meetings with the workers just to make sure that every case and complaints are handled properly,” said Ms Chih.
Ms Chih said the company has implemented the Invest for Wellness (I4WE), a programme “to establish and strengthen a vibrant and functional health system that delivers primary health care in the factory to prevent and treat high bourdon health conditions”.
