v2

Quarter 2 2016

Contents
Chile
Silvia Lorenzini has sent us a report about a group of school children keen
on Health & safety who have also got something to teach us.
Ireland
Bernie Green tells us about the work done at St. Michael’s House by our
colleagues in the Dublin office.
Australia
Thanks to Christine Shinnik for sending in this story of working with a
local school; teaching the children about irrigation and food production.
Commentary from Paul McNeece.
South Africa
Julie Short’s description of a Mandela Day initiative to help men find regular
work.
Middle East
Sarah Prince has pulled together details of three projects - two volunteering
with disadvantaged children and the other helping womenin difficult
circumstances.
Chile
Our colleagues in Chile were
visited by youngsters from a local
school.
The school is in a quite poor
neighborhood, but that does not
stop them doing excellent work
with their pupils.
The school was originally noticed
by Sergio Meneses (Financial
Manager). A few members of
staff went to visit and were very
impressed with the work the
school was doing.
With the help of more colleagues
they devised a year long schedule
of activities with the aim of building
a lasting relationship with the school
and its’ pupils.
So far they have done 3 of these
activities.
The one highlighted here was a
hosted tour around the yard for 10
boys and girls.
The children were interested in the
topic ‘Health and Safety’ and were
keen to see how our company does
it.
One of the next activities will see us
get help from them.
Coming from a largely rural
background the children know
plenty about farming. So they wil
be coming to help us set up a little
“plantation” of some tomatoes and
other vegetables - it’s a real twoway
relationship.

Ireland
For 57 years, St. Michael’s
House has been a leader in
the development and provision
of community-based services
for people with an intellectual
disability in Ireland.
from a scrap scaffold board and
also made a flower box. We cut
back shrubs and ivy, weeded
and replanted the flowers and
vegetables.
Australia
The SustainAbilites team in
Australia won $1000 dollars as
part of our reward & recognition
scheme in 2015.
Paul McNeece recalls -
“Hugh, Jan, Peter, Marco and I
walked up to the Edwardstown
Primary School last week and
met with the Principal (always a
daunting thought) Kathy Papps.
We presented Kathy with the $500
cheque for their irrigation project.
Like so many similar organisations
they rely heavily on volunteers for
fundraising and support.
She was delighted we’d help
out with this local project to help
RMD Ireland’s Dublin branch
have formed close links with The
Seanbrabh Unit which caters for
Adults with intellectual disabilities
and several of our colleagues
“gave a day of their time” to make
improvements.
We replaced the hanging baskets
and did a tidy up operation on
the garden.
We had 7 volunteers from the
Dublin Branch. We had lots of
fun and the result was amazing
as you can see from the photos.
They kindly decided to donate
some of their prize back to the
community in order to support
a local school - Edwardstown
Primary School.
local school children learn about
growing food.”
A great experience and team
effort. Highly recommended.”
Bernie Greene (Credit Manager
and IEF Amassador) tells us about
it -
“Our focus was on the side
entrance of the unit and the
garden. We painted the garden
wall. Vincent Smith our yard
operative made a house sign
The donation was to enable
the school to build irrigation
beds so that the children could
learn about growing plants.

South Africa
Nelson
Mandela
Day is an
international
day that was
launched
in 2009 by
the United
Nations to honour the legend and
legacy of Nelson Mandela and
what he stood for.
The purpose of the day is to
encourage citizens of the world
to spend 67 minutes of their
time on that particular day doing
something valuable to others.
The day is celebrated on Nelson
Mandela’s birthday every year,
18 July and all South Africans
are encouraged to participate
and do something to improve the
lives of others less fortunate than
themselves.
The stories and amazing work
done each year never ceases
to inspire and demonstrates the
great good will in people.
RMD Kwikform participates in
different ways every year and
this year was no exception.
The head office team, based in
the city of Centurion, situated
half way between the capital
city Pretoria and the commercial
capital, Johannesburg focussed
their attention on the plight of local
labourers in the area.
The area is largely industrial and
there is a daily demand for local
labourers with skills such as brick
laying, plastering, tiling, painting,
plumbing and electrical work.
The men gather on the corner of
the streets from the early hours in
the morning and wait for piece work
opportunities. The work is typically
poorly paid and the labourers often
have little or no education and
therefore have limited opportunity
to market themselves or improve
their situation. Many of them are
immigrants from other parts of
Africa looking to make a living in
the tough work environment in
South Africa. There is no system
in place for repeat business and
the men tend to repeat their plight
day in and day out without any
guaranteed work each day.
RMD Kwikform sent out invitations
two days before Mandela Day in
three different languages on each
flyer inviting the men to join us on
the pavement of our premises on
18 July. We had set up a coffee
station and were armed with a
professional camera and blank
forms to capture each person’s
credentials.
Each man was interviewed by
one of the RMD team to capture
as much information that could
be used to create their own
personalised set of business
cards. This included skills,
qualifications and reference
contact details.
Certified copies of their ID
documents were also made for
each person and each man was
issued with a drawstring bag
containing a winter hat, Vaseline,
socks, mobile phone air time and
food.
The RMDK team then got down
to work back in the office calling
references and making up
business cards. Each person was
given 50 custom business cards
in a plastic pouch and they were
issued with billboard posters that
could be used to help market their
skills.
The men returned over the next
few days to collect their business
cards and the response was
overwhelming.
In total we were able to directly
help 75 men and the difference
continues to be felt on our street
with billboards being displayed
and the boost of repeat business

Middle East
Volunteering at the
Dubai Autism Centre
those around them. It was clear
from the presentation that there
is still a lot we do not know about
Autism which makes finding the
correct support very challenging
for the group workers at the
centre.
The RMDK team were then split
up and assigned a
classroom in which
they worked with the
teachers on activities
and engaged with the
children.
Overall a very
rewarding experience
for our team which
also gave the teachers
some support in their
daily activities.
POLO Women’s
Refuge
The refuge looks after young
women from the Philippines that
are stranded in UAE having left
their employers. Often they have
been mistreated so needed to
leave quickly without taking their
belongings so are left with nothing
while they wait for their cases
to be resolved with the hope of
returning home.
Spending Time at
The Al Noor Training
Centre for Children
with Special Needs
The mission of the centre is ‘’To
provide all individuals with special needs,
regardless of background, the same
opportunity through professional training and
care to realize their potential and integrate
into the wider community”
They work with both children
and young adults with a variety
of learning needs with the aim of
integrating them into society and for
In May 2016 a group
from RMD Kwikform’s
Sharjah office
Volunteered to spend
time at the Dubai
Autism Centre.
The centre opened
in 2001 and provides
support to over 100
children and young
adults with moderate
to severe autism.
The day began with a presentation
on Autism and how it can impact
both those with the condition and
With your contributions we were
able to provide them with care
bags including basic clothing and
toiletries to help them in their initial
days. We will continue to support
this group and will send out some
further information on how you can
help soon.
those that are able, to obtain paid
employment and independence.
Following an introduction and
briefing session the RMDK team
spent time in the classrooms working
with the teachers and students to
understand the types of activities
provided and to see some of the
amazing work the students have
created.

Philippines
The rehabilitation encourages the
residents to hold activities like
sports fest, Zumba every weekend
and livelihood programs for the
RMDK volunteers may not be
professional painters, but in
the name of service, it’s the
little things that matter. The
Refurbishing a
Basketball Court in
Pasig City
The management of RMD
Kwikform Philippines decided
to rehabilitate a basketball
court, including construction of
a covered stage, as part of the
corporate social responsibility in
one of the communities in Pasig
City, where the Ortigas Office is
located.
The location of the court and
stage is somewhat isolated,
where the urban poor resides.
Rehabilitation of the court will
help families in the community,
especially the young ones, to
turn away from vices, and in
and instead resort to sports like playing
baskeball tFortunately, we were granted
a generous amount to push through
with this project by the Interserve
Employee Foundation (IEF).
Construction started in February 2016
and last April 16, the project was turned
over to the
Barangay
Kagawad
and the
Home
Owners’
Association.
The covered
stage was
built to be
used for
community
programs,
the court’s flooring was repaired from
having holes and cracked surfaces to
having a smooth and painted game
area, and a small office was also built
at the back of the stage for use of the
home owners’ association as their
security office.
residents.
During the last day of construction,
a group of employees composed
of Yard Laborers and Design
Engineers volunteered to paint the
site.
It was a
whole day’s
work and
they chose
to “Give a
Day of Their
Time” to
this project
to give
something
back to the
community.
volunteer’s commitment and
united efforts allowed them to
finish the painting job in just
one day. In working together,
wonderful things can be