Grade 7 Ekuthuleni Primary learner, Lungelo Raketsi shows his appreciation of the Waste To Hope backpack he received from Expand a Sign’s Uzwelo project.
As Lungelo Raketsi shrugged on his new vibrantly patterned Uzwelo backpack, he was toting a great story with much to teach. The isiZulu name of the initiative by specialists in custom-made portable branding, Expand a Sign, means “compassion,” the feeling that stirs one to relieve someone else’s hardship. After Covid, the company developed the Desk Buddy, a pop-up screen designed for children's school desks. At the end of the project, there was a surplus of 90,000 fabric panels. With its commitment to sustainability, Expand a Sign was spurred to find a solution which, not only avoided the panels being consigned to the landfill, but also provided local skills development empowering KZN women in Kwa-Zulu Natal to earn a living, giving them dignity and making them inspirations to their communities long-term.
Today, Uzwelo has developed a range of unique, stylish and functional bags made from fabric cut-offs and, as part of Expand a Sign’s Mandela Day commitments, put together the practical Waste To Hope backpacks for people in underserved communities across the country. The Domino Foundation’s Life Skills programme was a recipient of 150 backpack bags for learners from the Bester area and Inanda Primary schools with which the NPO is in a partnership to provide a values-based education partnership to Grades 4 to 7 learners.
Nicky Walton, Domino’s Education Co-ordinator, explained that the programme gives learners the tools with which to make wise life choices, countering an often negative environment by centring around respect for self, others and the environment, kindness to others, caring for others and seeking their good. “Uzwelo’s gift teaches a narrative about care for the environment, about empowering others to be positive players in shaping their own present and their futures, and about creativity.”
Lungelo’s comment summed up his and his peers’ response to what they had received: “We are so happy with these backpacks. We are so interested to hear that they have been made from what some people might have thrown away but what has been turned into something beautiful and useful.”
Uzwelo can be contacted at info@uzwelo.co.za or 031 207 2327 about its range and Nicky at education@domino.org.za for information on how interested persons can be involved to make an impact in the lives on the Life Skills programme.
