CEC shares 20 years of success with vulnerable children
CEC’s 20th birthday celebrations began in true CEC style, with the Company and its employees, giving high value items and consumables, all valued at over K100,000 to children cared for by the Wukwashu Wa Nzambi charity located in Kitwe’s Chimwemwe East.
Managing Director, Mr. Owen Silavwe, and his fellow members of the Mutende Community Service Group (Mutende) – CEC’s volunteer employee association – delivered 20 wheelchairs, kitchen appliances, computers, carpet and food to Wukwashi Wa Nzambi on Friday, 17 November 2017, as the company marked two decades of success since it was privatised. The donation included materials the charity uses to make special chairs, walking and standing frames for the children using paper technology.
CEC’s journey since privatisation has been inextricably linked to the people of Zambia. “At CEC, lending a hand is something integral to our core. We don’t look at it as being separate from the business because we understand that our continued existence and success are intertwined with that of the people around us,” stated Silavwe.
Silavwe commended the passion and interest of CEC staff to uplift people communities through their selfless giving and for living the Company’s values; and spoke of CEC’s focus on sustainability in its giving.
“When we help, we consider how our assistance will contribute to continued improvement in the areas of need of the recipient. In the case of Wukwashi Wa Nzambi, we know that easing and enabling a child’s mobility through surgery or mobility aids, not only lessens the burden on the family and care givers but more importantly brings joy to a child and opens up numerous possibilities that may have been closed to them before. Each child desires to play in the company of others and they want to learn, no matter the type or magnitude of their physical and mental challenge. So when you provide facilities and opportunities for these children to interact and learn, and for their parents to learn skills they can use at home to provide therapy, you sow a seed of sustainability for the children and their families,” he told the recipient charity.
Wukwashi Wa Nzambi offers life-changing support to severely disabled children, whether mentally and physically; providing assistance directly related to the children’s disabilities such as surgery, physiotherapy and mobility aids, are well as vital social support and life skills. This enables the children to realize their potential and become valuable members of society.
In the same way that the electricity CEC provides has powered the Zambian economy, it is hoped that so too will be the gifts shared help to empower the beneficiary children in transforming their lives.
CEC is a Zambian incorporated power transmission, generation and distribution Company with interests in closely linked businesses, including optic fibre based telecommunications, in Zambia and the Sub-Saharan African region. The privately-owned power utility is listed on the Lusaka Securities Exchange and is a member of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP). The Company was established in 1953 to provide power to the mines on Zambia’s Copperbelt Province and was privatised in 1997.
