The project is designed to reward the daycares for collecting used SASKO bread bags with basic amenities like mattresses, backpacks, carpets, chairs, and even fridges or stoves for their schools to assist daycare owners in making the environment more comfortable for the children.

Lungelwa Mnyamana, brand manager for Essential Foods: Bakeries at SASKO, says “The project was received with great warmth and excitement by the community of Mdantsane. Despite it being a very busy time in the calendars of daycare owners as they continue to register new children, they all came in numbers and were fully engaged. I am really looking forward to the first prize giving in Mdantsane.”

The name Siyasizana is Zulu for ‘we are helping each other’ and this is true to the ethos of this programme. Community initiatives and wellbeing is key to SASKO. The Siyasizana Daycare Project was conceptualised to give back to communities and raise awareness of waste reduction and recycling and since its launch in 2015, the programme has done just that and more. This project is viewed as a partnership and SASKO is committed to building great relationships with daycare owners, spaza shop owners and actively engaging with communities.

“As a proudly South African company, we are all about ‘ubuntu’ and want to give back wherever we can. We have big plans to grow this campaign across South Africa and are currently identifying our next area. A true testament of what this programme can achieve is to look at what we have achieved in Thembisa. In December 2016, we rewarded 420 daycares for collecting 1 011 011 bags within six months. 3 191 prizes were handed out in Thembisa,” says Mnyamana.

Through this programme, participating daycares are able to refrigerate food, prepare cooked meals, mattresses are available for nap time, and tables and chairs are set up for activities and meal times.

For more information, visit sasko.co.za. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter.