Delaine Bezuidenhout

 Outline of presentation

• Background on My Walk Made with Soul (our partners etc.)

• Their process (from hospitals to school shoes)

• Their participating hospitals

• Statistics

Delanie will be informing us about My Walk Made with Soul, its inspired instigators, how uncontaminated healthcare waste can be turned into shoes and how this initiative creates jobs while solving a problem that affects 5 million school children in South Africa.

Delanie has been actively involved in sustainability initiatives in South Africa since 2008.  She is the authority on the recycling of single use products in the healthcare environment in South Africa and has almost 10 years’ experience in this field.

Currently, she is the general manager of the “My Walk Made with Soul” project in South Africa.  This project, funded and supported by Netcare Holdings and Adcock Ingram Critical Care, collects recyclable and non-hazardous IV drip bags, oxygen masks and oxygen tubing from numerous hospitals in South Africa, processes the material at its own factory where it is made into durable shiny school shoes ready for donation to children in need!

To date they have recycled over 80 000kgs of healthcare waste that would have ended up in hazardous landfill sites. The result is 150 000 pairs of shoes donated nationally!

Through the “My Walk Made with Soul” initiative, the two main shareholders (Netcare and Adcock Ingram Critical Care) are able to not only address a business challenge (high volumes of waste), but to also turn this challenge into an opportunity creating employment through enterprise development answering a real social need (5 million children in South Africa do not have school shoes!).

“My Walk Made with Soul” initiative has been celebrated in the media and has been awarded the Netbank Green Economy Award for non-profit organisations.

On a personal level, Delanie is an ordained minister in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa.  She believes in living a balanced life and besides being dedicated to helping the children of South Africa through the My Walk initiative, devoting time to her ministry, her husband and two daughters. Delanie also loves mountain biking, hiking and various arts and craft projects!

Delanie will be informing us about My Walk Made with Soul, its inspired instigators, how uncontaminated healthcare waste can be turned into shoes and how this initiative creates jobs while solving a problem that affects 5 million school children in South Africa!

Simply click on this link or use the meeting number on any web enabled device .. (to be advised)