Cape Town - Imagine a world without hunger or homelessness, a world where everyone celebrates the beauty of humanity and the joy of creating a better world for all.
This is what the 33 recipients of the Inaugural Imagine awards did through innovative approaches to assisting others who need a hand where development, support or assistance is required.
The Imagine awards, launched this month by the Survé Philanthropies, a foundation which houses several of the Survé family’s philanthropic initiatives, took place at the Artscape on Friday.
The awards recognise individuals, organisations and institutions involved in making a social impact in various sectors.
Nearly 100 nominations were received from across the country, but 33 individuals and organisations only made it to the shortlist for innovation in arts and culture, disability, technology, human rights, media, education, women, children and poverty alleviation.
Change makers such as Kwakho Mamputa, who is only eight years old, melted the hearts of attendees for her efforts to improve the lives of others by volunteering her time to collect donations for a soup kitchen in Khayelitsha.
Another award-winner, whose innovation got an ovation from the crowd, was Sizwe Nzima, who was commended for his innovative contribution to primary healthcare through his chronic medication bicycle delivery app.
Nzima developed the app after standing in line as a child to collect his grandmother’s chronic medication. To date, the app, called Iyeza Health, delivered more than 120000 parcels of chronic medication to 33 primary clinic sites in Langa, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha and Macassar.
“I stood in queues at a public clinic, but I thought that out of this problem I’m experiencing I can turn it into an opportunity, which is why I decided to come up with this bicycle courier service. It grew from scooters, to bakkies, to trucks. The app can track scripts of patients and communicate when delivery is coming. We can geo tag it and in future we can do disease management and management to see if a particular area has a disease outbreak,” said Nzima.
Nadine Mackenzie, who received the Arts and Culture in disability award, was lauded for her work in the UNMUTE Dance Company she co-founded and the ArtsAbility festival she created for able and disabled bodies to self-express through performance.
Mackenzie was knocked down by a drunk driver when she was two years old and has since been in a wheelchair. She’s overcame many obstacles to get to where she is.
“I feel passionate about the work we do. It’s important to me. I’m humbled by the award. Often as an artist we don’t get celebrated or seen or noticed for the work we do,” said Mackenzie.
A number of special recognition Social Justice awards were given to society heroes, such as the late Johnny Issel, an apartheid struggle hero. Issel was a trade unionist, a grassroots activist and an Umkhonto we Sizwe commando. The award was given to him posthumously for his community activism in fighting for the plight of the poor.
Maxwell Moss, from Saldanaha, also received a Social Justice Award for working tirelessly to develop semi-rural and urban communities along the West Coast. Despite retired and in a wheelchair, Moss still plays an active role in lobbying the fisher community, which has limited rights and are living in poverty.
* To view the full list of recipients and to watch the video of the event, visit https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/imagine-awards-honour-role-players-in-social-change-from-across-sa-18342754
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