Johannesburg, 28 Oct 2008
Bytes Document Solutions, a Bytes Technology Group company, wholly owned by Altron, and the authorised distributor of Xerox products and solutions to 24 African countries, has joined forces with ABSA, Habitat for Humanity, and other leading businesses to build 34 houses in Orange Farm, Stretford. As such, it has helped alleviate the vast housing shortfall of South Africa.
Orange Farm is a settlement next to the Golden Highway near Soweto.
The project, in partnership with ABSA Group Sourcing and managed by Habitat for Humanity, has involved over 2 700 volunteers. Participants and sponsors have raised more than R3 million.
“We have grasped this opportunity to make a real difference in the broader South African community, with Bytes Document Solutions donating almost R350 000 and getting our staff involved to build the houses. In our small way, we hope to be able to make a difference to a community that deserves our support,” says Rob Abraham, MD of Bytes Document Solutions. “Our Altron group has built 10 houses, of which Bytes Document Solutions staff built four.”
Volunteers were hard at work for a week: they interacted with the local community, cleared sites, mixed mortar, laid blocks to build walls, plastered walls, installed doors and windows, and erected scaffolding for the top courses before finishing the construction with a roof.
The project started on Monday and ended on Friday. The construction of the houses was marked with a dedication and key handover ceremony. The keys to the houses were handed over to the new homeowners at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by key government officials on Friday, 24 October at the project site in Orange Farm.
“Orange Farm is a community in need,” says Abraham. “Children are crammed into small structures for lack of resources and they absolutely require facilities such as housing, running water and electricity to meet their basic needs.
“While Bytes Document Solutions and Xerox are dedicated to going beyond primary corporate concerns and expend a great deal of time, money and energy on environmental conservation, the communities in which we operate are equally important to the future of South Africa and therefore equally important to us.”
In 2006 government established a multi-purpose community centre (MPCC) in the settlement to provide services from the Department of Labour, Department of Home Affairs, and Social Services, as well as the ability to pay for municipal services such as water and electricity.
The community also received a high-tech hub in 2005 as part of the City of Johannesburg's department of economic development, marketing and tourism information and communications sector support programme. Fifteen community members were trained to use computers for general office and administration purposes and offer two three-hour courses daily.
Share