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Lufthansa Global Telesales
Official iThemba Capricorn Inauguration Event
Cape Town, 05 March 2010: Lufthansa Global Telesales (GTS) celebrated the opening of iThemba School in Capricorn, a suburb in Cape Town. Meaning “Hope”, the iThemba School was founded by Lufthansa Global Telesales in collaboration with Help Alliance, a non profit organisation in Germany, run by Lufthansa employees, and other sponsors.
The iThemba School initiative aims to give children in impoverished areas a head start by eliminating educational disparities and improving the quality of education offered. Emphasis is put on numeracy, literacy and nutrition and classes are taught in the English medium to equip young learners with the necessary skills to enter English-medium junior schools.
“Lufthansa GTS is 100 percent committed to the upliftment of disadvantaged communities. We strongly believe that education and private sector support is the way forward. “In fact, it is imperative that the private sector backs this cause,” Birgit Thümecke, Managing Director of Lufthansa GTS Cape Town, said at the official opening of the school. The opening was fittingly marked with a tree planting ceremony.
MEC for Education in the Western Cape, Donald Grant, was one of the special dignitaries in attendance at the event. Other important guests included local government representatives, sponsors and stakeholders of Lufthansa GTS.
Located near Muizenberg, the informal settlement where the school is based, has an estimated 70% unemployment rate, with a population of more than 12 000 residents. HIV / Aids, drug- and alcohol abuse are just some of the social ills riddling this community.
Continued Thümecke, “The iThemba Project is about more than building a school, planting gardens, erecting play areas and creating jobs. It is about giving 50 little children a future that is based on all the lessons that they learn here. What the children learn here in three years will become the foundation for the rest of their lives. iThemba means “Hope”. And where there is hope there is a future.” |
