Programme Director, Cllr Bongani Dlamini
Ms. Mariam Mazibuko and all the Staff of the Orlando Children’s Home,
Dr. Setumo Mohapi, Chief Executive Officer of Sentech,
Mr Steve Loubsher, Senior Representative from Samsung South Africa,
Mr Thabo Siziba, Head of ABSA Business Banking in Gauteng
Officials from Government and Private Sector,
And most importantly, our young ones, the stars of today’s visit,
Sanibonani.
I had a chance to walk around in this beautiful home and see the work that Ma Mirriam and her team are doing. I am impressed by the effort and dedication that has gone into making the Orlando Children’s Home a warm and welcoming environment for all our children who stay here.
I am used to visiting different institutions in South Africa. One can almost immediately get an impression of how things are going as you enter the gate, whether things are good or bad. We are in this beautiful home and one can feel the spirit that there are people who are taking good care of it and making it a real home.
I urge all of you to keep up the good work. When we say South African is a much better place, it is because of people like you who chose to serve the neediest in society by investing directly in developing our communities.
We are living in a more connected world where communications technologies such as the internet and television are an important part of our lives. These technologies have improved to the way we communicate, how we experience the world and even the way we teach and learn.
It is for this reason that I am here today on behalf of my department to donate a top of the range 55 inch Samsung Curved Ultra High Definition television set to the Orlando Children’s Home. I am told it is one of the best you can buy as it can even connect to the internet. We must thank Samsung for providing this television set.
With assistance from Sentech, we have already connected the television to an Open View HD decoder. You now have more than 20 channels which are free and will never need to be paid for. Sentech has also promised that all the television sets in the Home will be connected by January 2015 to Open View HD. So before you go back to school, you will have all of these channels in all your family houses.
You will be able to watch cartoons, the news and most importantly educational channels that will help with your homework for Mathematics, Life Sciences and many others.
We have provided these tools so that you can be able to use them for your benefit. I know that you are all very smart and that you have the ability to become very successful. When I was growing up, we never had any of these things. I am glad that you have them and you can use them to achieve more than what we have achieved as your parents.
I want you to be educated and contribute to changing South Africa and the world. We have Dr. Mohapi here and Steve who were exactly like you at your age. You have a world of endless possibilities before you as our children and we want you to always work towards being the best at whatever you do.
I also noticed that the library has computers but they are not connected to the internet. We are busy speaking to some of the people we work with who connect computers to the internet. I hope that very soon you will be connected and be able to browse the internet for help with your homework. We want to make sure that you are able to use the computers you already have for what they are intended for.
The internet is the biggest equaliser we have today. You must be like the children in wealthier countries and other parts of South Africa. Kumele ninikezwe amathuba afanayo.
I am very grateful that President Jacob Zuma allowed us to donate this gift to the Orlando Children’s Home. We even motivated with the Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini that we would bring it here because we know it will make a difference in your lives.
Sibonga kakhulu ukuthi sibe nani, sibonge nendlela eniziphate ngayo. I hope the gift I have presented today will bring warmth to the Orland Children’s Home family as we celebrate this festive season.
I thank you.
