Helping the “Kommunity”

General Motors South Africa (GMSA) has donated four brand new Isuzu KB250 4×4 LE double cab bakkies to the Kommunity Group – a South African-based, multi-national education, development and upliftment organisation.

Based on the need for disadvantaged learners to have an appropriate surface to do their school work on – whether they sit under a tree or in a classroom with no desks – the patented and brandable “Kommunity Desk” was created as a 100 percent-recyclable and child-friendly solution. The Kommunity Desk serves as an effective writing surface and vital learning infrastructure solution for underprivileged learners.

Proud supporter of the Kommunity Desk initiative, Archbishop Desmond Tutu endorsed the project by personally signing an Isuzu-branded Kommunity Desk in 2012.

Expressing his approval of the concept, Tutu comments: “I was a barefoot township urchin. I went to a school where there were no desks. We sat on benches and when the teacher asked us to write, we knelt on the floor and used the benches we had been sitting on as desks … I wish Kommunity Desks had been available in my day!”

Michelle Wilson, public relations officer for GMSA, says: “GMSA, in partnership with the Kommunity Group, started this project in 2011 as a corporate social responsibility initiative. We have seen exponential success with the delivery of thousands of Kommunity Desks to disadvantaged learners around South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland.

“To date, over 6 000 Kommunity Desks have been delivered by the Isuzu fleet, in mainly remote and unreachable regions of southern Africa and we stand true to our slogan of ‘Isuzu delivers’,” adds Wilson.

In 2013, the partnership is set to see a further 7 000 desks delivered in and around South Africa, with a further 1 000 set for distribution in Kenya by GM Kenya – taking the total number of desks delivered by Isuzu bakkies to 14 000.