Terry Hutson
THERE ARE many reasons why big companies choose to donate money or equipment to worthy causes. For some it is a means of putting something back into the community in which it operates, for others it might be that a certain appeal has struck the right cord.
In a recent case involving Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) it was both of these, although there was another underlying reason. When the chairman of MSC in South Africa, Captain Salvatore Sarno, was approached for assistance by the 'Durban Loves to Care' organisation, he said he remembered the many times he had personally appealed for help in the days when he was still at sea.
Many of MSC's 10 000 employees are seafarers, who are either still at sea working on our ships or who work ashore in our many MSC offices worldwide, he told FTW. For most of us, there were times when we experienced terrifying moments at sea, when only a call to a power greater than ourselves could save us. In my experience this was always answered. So now, when we are safe on shore, it's our turn to give thanks by answering a call for help from others. That's the reason we decided to assist McCords Hospital with a new gastro/colon fibrescope set.
The R115 000 piece of equipment makes it possible for the hospital to treat patients without having to refer them elsewhere, but this is not the beginning or end of MSC's assistance programme.
The shipping line remains the main benefactor of Durban's maritime classes at New Forest High School, but when a Maryland Port Authority delegation recently visited Durban, it presented a different kind of opportunity. MSC is the biggest user of both the Port of Baltimore and the Port of Durban, and it was natural that the American delegation should also call on MSC while in Durban. The delegates included the US State Senator for Maryland, Senator Gloria Lawlah, who was introduced to McCords Hospital by Captain Sarno and who subsequently showed interest in further assistance.
She made a second visit to Durban a few weeks later, to be at the handover of the new equipment. Afterward, Senator Lawlah joined Captain and Mrs Sarno on a visit to the Adams Mission Community Health Centre in the south of Durban, which is a satellite medical facility that is serviced on a weekly basis by a doctor from McCords. Resulting from this visit, the State of Maryland and MSC have now agreed to provide further equipment aimed at providing better medical care at this understaffed, under-equipped but overcrowded hospital clinic.
The shipping community is a huge industry with the means to do big things among the community, commented Captain Sarno. In the same way that our seafarers call for help so we must give back to our fellow man.
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