Samsung Delivers Accessible Healthcare to the Community of Hammanskraal

Samsung Electronics South Africa is addressing the need to provide accessible healthcare services in the Ga-Ramotse community in Hammanskraal. As part of its commitment to the communities in which Samsung serves, the organisation donated a Solar Powered Health Centre (SPHC). The SPHC supplies a variety of screenings, equipment and offers treatment to members of the community in need.

 

The Ga-Ramotse Clinic was built in 1987 by the Amandebele-Ba-Lebelo tribal authority and is located north of Pretoria. It provides comprehensive primary healthcare services such as minor emergency services, treatment for TB, HIV/ AIDS, mental healthcare, family planning and ward-based outreach services to over four villages in the region. The community has a high unemployment rate making the clinic even more valuable to those that can’t afford to travel far distances for medical assistance.  

 

Samsung’s SPHC provides a central place where diagnosis and healthcare assistance is offered to people through the use of diagnostic systems, managed by a purpose-built application.

 

Pitso Kekana, Head of Corporate Citizenship at Samsung South Africa says, “Access to health facilities are a major concern in rural areas and Samsung aims to help people live healthier lives, by using our technological expertise to develop affordable and reachable healthcare solutions.”

 

The SPHC is a 7-metre long truck which includes a mini laboratory where blood analysis can be done. Testing for malaria, diabetes, high blood pressure and other conditions can also be done, with the convenience of having results immediately. A prescription can also be printed and given to the patient, who then needs to collect the medication from the nearest government clinic or hospital, such as the Tshwane District Hospital or the Steve Biko Academic Hospital.

 

 

“The health of individuals in our communities is a major priority. We aim to use these centres to help combat the challenge of providing quality health care to those who live in more rural areas. We are confident that this solution will provide the support needed to improve health standards in the Ga-Ramotse community,” concludes Kekana.

South Africa’s Best Home Cooked Meals Revealed

Samsung Electronics South Africa’s ‘For the Love of Food’ competition encouraged South Africans to share their original recipes and the stories behind them. The recipes were divided into six categories with a grand prize of their share in R300 000 worth of Samsung products for the winners and products to the value of R150 000 for the runners-up.

 

The winners were chosen from thousands of entries and their recipes were showcased at a glitzy Gala event held at The Royal Elephant Hotel. The winning recipes were prepared as part of the six course meal to honour the winners. The illustrious judging panel was also in attendance and included Samsung ambassador and celebrity Chef Reuben Riffel, Carmen Niehaus long-standing food editor of Huisgenoot and You magazines, Chef Tiaan Langenegger, blogger and well-known TV personality Nina Timm and Sam Woulidge columnist and author. The judges chose winners across six cooking categories: Fancy canapés, Quick snacks, Fish and seafood, Braai dishes, Slow cooked meals and Desserts.

 

“We wanted to appeal to the hearts of South Africans, by tapping into their passion for food and cooking and we received truly inspiring anecdotes, relating to the culture, tradition and passion that inspired each recipe. We were overwhelmed by the response. ‘For the love of Food’ is the first of many Samsung initiatives that will enable us to celebrate South Africans and the great dishes and good memories that are close to their hearts,” says Michelle Potgieter, Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Samsung Electronics South Africa.

 

South Africans had to enter their favourite recipes, preparation methods, and a story that the dish brought to mind. These entries were all uploaded to Samsung’s ‘For the Love of Food’ website, to showcase all the beautiful stories and scrumptious recipes. The campaign received exposure on television and digital media and throughout the campaign period, nearly 12 000 requests for recipe downloads were received. The ‘For the Love of Food’ website received in excess of 123 000 unique visitors who shared the passion for delicious food. Chef Reuben cooked each winning recipe on the Expresso breakfast show, and his demonstrations were shared on YouTube to help viewers make the dishes in their own kitchens.

 

The amazing response that we received to the campaign is testament to how much South Africans love food and how food unites our nation.

 

“We have found some of the most original and unforgettable dishes prepared with passion and infused with heart-warming memories and these winning dishes stood out to our judges and for this very reason the ‘For the Love of Food’ campaign was centered on celebrating South Africa’s uniqueness and embracing our love for food and home-cooked meals. Given the sheer variety of entries we received ’For the Love of Food has shown how much South Africans value and celebrate where we come from!” concludes Potgieter.

 

Each winner was handed a certificate for their winning recipe and Chef Reuben Riffel, closed off the night and treated guests to a book signing and photo opportunity of his cookbooks ‘Reuben on Fire’ and ‘Braai’.

 

 

The lucky category winners are:

Braai Dishes:                             Lloyd Griffin

Fancy canapés:                Zuri Roos

Fish and seafood:            Gresham Madhan

Quick snacks:                   Kelly Nair

Slow Cooked Meals:         Tasneem Jaffer

Desserts:                         Heather de Bruin

 

All the recipes are on www.theloveoffood.co.za for you to download and enjoy!

 

In The Purple Seat: John Owens

We had the privilege of interviewing Mr South Africa 2013/14, John Owens, who shared his Mr South Africa experience with us.

What is the difference between Mr and Miss South Africa? 

Mr South Africa is very similar to Miss South Africa if we look at it from a competition perspective but the way that you enter and the way that you win the competition is completely different. So Miss South Africa is a pageant and Mr South Africa is a competition. So Mr SA is looking for a model male, also a representative of the brand. We take the brand as a company so we look at it from that sense where Miss SA is more of a “face of”.

What are the requirements for entering? 

The competition is open to men between the age of 18 and 21, who are hungry and have a lot of dreams- with a valid South African ID and no criminal record.

What do you think the competition needs to achieve the same status and exposure as Miss/Mrs South Africa? 

I think mainly sponsors and a lot of money. Miss South Africa is owned by Sun International so that is already a huge backing, Mr South Africa is owned by an individual. So I think most probably the money behind it because it does take a lot of money to run a competition and for us to really take the title and save lives, we’ve really got to get out there and get more involved in a lot of things. And I think the more sponsorships, the more endorsements, the more companies see what we are all about because everyone associates us with a modelling competition and that’s completely wrong.

 Do you think that in a few years Mr SA will be able to achieve the same status as Miss SA, given that it is so much younger than Miss SA? 

I think so… If all the Mr SA’s stood together a bit instead of just moving away from the brand, like with Miss SA you could probably phone up Miss SA from 10 years ago and she would still somehow be part of the brand. That’s the one thing that I wanted to do- get all the former Mr SAs, obviously starting from me, still remains part of the brand. So it’s like an internal Mr SA club, and by that I think that the brand will grow. And believe it or not, Mr SA actually comes from the 1980’s.

It has been mentioned that you are involved with the Africa Blessing’s project. Can you tell us a bit more about this cause and how you got involved?

Well African blessings is actually just something that I do through the company that I work for so I am not actually actively involved with them, it’s more through the company and through the money that we make as well as the events that we get involved in. It’s purely through the company, but I have my own charity organisations that I do from The Little Fighters Cancer Trust and The Sunflower Fund. So I devoted my year to childhood cancer, and I said that I am not just going to choose one charity and devote my time to it, I will choose whatever charity is involved with child hood cancer.

Do you think that Mr SA is a good platform for giving voice towards charity? 

I do believe so but I think that you should do it for the right reasons and not do it to kind of get something out of it for your own benefit. Because I have a four year old daughter who is very healthy and bubbly and every so often I have to remind myself that it could’ve been different. It’s funny because having a title like Mr Sa, people want to listen and get involved and a lot of South African don’t know where to get involved. So though the Mr SA following that we have we definitely make a difference where we can.

Let’s move onto the juicy details- how has Mr SA affected your relationship? 

I actually had a relationship entering Mr SA and that relationship kind of fell apart after winning- literally about 4 months after winning Mr SA that relationship ended. But it’s unfortunate. I’ve said that I could never understand it, the celebrities out there. I could never understand why you have celebrities dating celebrities because I thought to myself “How boring would that be?” Because you have the same interests, you got the same type of things that you look at, what do you talk about in the evenings? Whereas where there is a celebrity and a person with a normal job, you at least have things to talk about. But after winning Mr SA I understand why you do that, because you need someone in your life that supports you 100%, you need somebody who understands if you get home at 2 o’clock in the morning and you are grumpy and you just want to go to bed. It’s affected my life 180 degrees.

So how do you think that the transition has been from being a normal guy on the street to being Mr SA?

Well it was tough in the beginning, simply because a lot of people look up to you because I am a very expressive guy. I normally say what’s on my mind whether it is positive or negative and I had to stop doing that. So I think that it’s changed me for the better.

So what does being Mr SA mean to you? 

Well to me it means quite a lot of things but I think that mostly it’s just setting a good example for other men in South Africa, I think purely because South African’s, specifically men, we don’t go to army any more so that whole transition of going from being a boy to becoming a man. So you look at 22/23 year olds out there with no direction in life, living with their parents, they’ve got no dreams- no ambition. Simply because of the role models and a lot of mean in South Africa grow up in broken homes where they grow up with either a mom or a dad and they grow up with no role models. We’ve got role models like sports players and actors, but it’s not easy if you don’t have the background to become someone like that. Specifically for myself, coming from literally nowhere. Winning a competition, making something out of it, I think it’s important for me to be a role model and just show other men on South Africa that anything is really possible.

What do you think of your predecessor compared to you compared to who came after you?

Well I don’t really know a lot about the guy that won the competition before me simply because he had his own race that he had. The guy that won just after me now, I actually know him from before he won Mr SA and I’ve assisted him through his reign as well, where I can, but my role was a little bit different. I had my things that I had going on but I got involved with the new competition as well. So all top 12 finalists that took part a couple of months ago I knew every single one of them. And the guy that won now, Armand du Plessis, very very nice guy, he really is. He’s very different to me, he’s got different things that he wants to do so I think that’s a good thing for the brand. That means that I can continue to do what I want to do and he’s going to make a different road for himself. He has different things that he believes in.

Do you think that this allows the brand to evolve more?

I do think so. I think that as a Mr SA you should, as long as you put the brand before your dreams. I know that people will go “But no, Mr SA is all about you”, but it’s not. It’s all about the brand. If you do things for the brand, and you put the brand out there and every big decision you make is for the brand then eventually the brand will look after you. And life will look after you because you get given 12 months and in the 12 months you must make the most of it.

Written by Ghia ten Doeschate