After a long day at work, most of us are happy to take it easy. Not so for Langa resident Jama Katangana who has been recognised by the Woolworths Trust for making a difference in his community at Nants'Ingqayi (NAD), a non-profit organisation (NGO) based in Langa. Katangana, a mailing supervisor who works at Woolworths head office in Cape Town, recently won the Woolworths Trust’s ‘Working Wonders’ initiative, which recognises the efforts Woolworths employees are making towards meeting social challenges in their communities. His prize, a R5 000-00 donation, will go towards NAD. Katangana spends most of his free time volunteering on the executive committee at NAD, an organisation that provides the community of Langa with a platform for the development of artistic skills and expression. These skills provide the residents of Langa with sustainable and regular incomes, in turn helping to create a positive vision and focus for the community. Retired and professional Langa residents are also urged to become involved with the initiative by sharing their knowledge with young learners thereby creating a pool of skills and contributing towards the growth of the community as well as the individual learner. “My work at NAD has become an integral part of my life; I live its beliefs and core values,” says Katangana who has been with the NGO since 2007. “We also host regular tea parties for the elderly; they are the heart and soul of the community and should not be forgotten.” “Caring for people has always been at the heart of the Woolworths way of doing business,” says Brian Frost, Chairman of the Woolworths Trust, which oversees and administers Woolworths extensive CSI initiatives. “We are proud to say that it goes beyond what Woolworths does on a corporate level through our CSI programme, to the way our stores are involved in their local communities, right down to real grass roots level. The ‘Working Wonders’ programme allows us to recognise our ‘unsung heroes’ – individual Woolworths people who are making a real difference in their own way and in their own time in their own communities.” Woolworths staff members are invited to submit their stories, written in their own words. A representative group of Woolworths employees selects a winner every month, and the story is published on Woolworths intranet and in Woolworths internal newsletter, Shop Talk. “In addition to recognising individual effort, we also hope that reading these stories will inspire other staff members to get involved in community activities in some way,” Frost explains. At the end of the year the monthly winners are reassessed and an overall yearly winner with two runner ups are chosen and their charities are rewarded again with an additional R50 000, R20 000 and R10 000 respectively.

After a long day at work, most of us are happy to take it easy. Not so for Langa resident Jama Katangana who has been recognised by the Woolworths Trust for making a difference in his community at Nants'Ingqayi (NAD), a non-profit organisation (NGO) based in Langa.