Leaving a footprint in life

Justicia Shipena On Friday, Standard Bank Namibia launched the Buy-a-Brick School Campaign at its headquarters. The campaign mobilises schools in a nationwide effort to raise funds for the construction of low-cost houses.The campaign officially commenced yesterday and is slated to end in May.During this time, schools will collect funds through the sale of specially designed footprint socks, which have the Buy-a-Brick logo printed on them. The name footprint socks, which was chosen by Lelani Louw, a learner from M&K Gertze High School at Rehoboth during the 2020 NMH Media Camp, encourages and motivates learners to leave a footprint in the lives of families living in shacks and help them to acquire affordable houses.Since 2015, the campaign has collected around N$20 million, translating into close to 600 new homes for Namibian families who previously lived in shacks.Up for grabs The school with the most sales of the socks will receive an incentive of N$20 000, while the top selling boy and girl at that school will each receive N$5 000. The learner who sells the most socks at any of the other participating schools will also walk away with N$5 000. All the money raised during the campaign will be handed over to the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN).Standard Bank’s public relations and communications manager Isack Hamata said at the launch that there was a need to rally all sectors and population groups in society, including learners, behind the campaign and to support the efforts to eradicate shacks in the country.Hamata added that housing creates communities and generates social capital, hence it is important for everyone to rally around the initiative that has a real impact on the lives of thousands of ordinary Namibians.This year, Buy-a-Brick is teaming up with schools and Namibian learners to sell the socks as token bricks. “Sell a pair of Footprint Socks at your school and in your community and create a happy home,” Hamata told the learners at the launch, adding that he looked forward to seeing the socks everywhere as a colourful sign of support for the Buy-a-Brick campaign.A member of the SDFN, Edith Mbanga thanked Standard Bank for their support. Mbanga said the impact of the project has given shack dwellers better living conditions.

Leaving a footprint in life

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-12

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Leaving a footprint in life

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-12

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