A truckload of charity

A Hino 300 814 truck, fitted with a Praga van body, has been on loan from Hino SA to the Touch Africa charitable organisation since 2010, and continues to play a vital role in a number of Touch Africa’s outreach programmes, many of which target schools.

“The truck now has 53 852 km on its odometer. It is proving an incredible tool for allowing us to perform amazing work in our quest of ‘Making School a Better Place’,” comments Mike Glover, director of Touch Africa, which operates out of Port Elizabeth.

Among the projects, where the Hino has been used during the past year, were the building of seven libraries, the delivery of books and mattresses to the Step by Step crèche in the Eastern Cape, and the erection of a jungle gym at Lion Park.

Touch Africa has installed 15, 40-foot-container libraries into 15 currently disadvantaged schools in South Africa over the past two years. Only eight percent of public schools have libraries.

The organisation’s initial library project now totals 30 libraries; each container is revamped and equipped with tables and chairs as well as the stock of 2 500 books. The truck is used to move the verandas and stock of books.

The Hino truck also delivered all the building materials required to construct the Zisukhanyo crèche near Mazeppa Bay over a four-month period.

Hino SA vice-president, Ernie Trautmann, says that the Touch Africa project dovetails very well with other corporate social investment programmes of Hino and Toyota, where the focus has always been on education and health.