Conad and Unifrutti: school opened in South Africa as the fruit of solidarity

Italian retail chain Conad and Unifrutti (a company specialized in the marketing of fruits and vegetables based in Padua and with productive plantations around the world) have opened in Addo, in the region of Porth Elizabeth in South Africa, a kindergarten for the children of workers of the Sun Day Valley in collaboration with the Thembalethu Association, which operates to mitigate the effects of AIDS and reducing poverty in many African countries.

The school was named after Vitaliano Brasini, an historical figure at Conad, managing director of Independent Dealers Associates, who died two years ago, and a protagonist of the cooperative large-scale distribution world. The inauguration was attended by the sons of Brasini, Gianni and Marco, and his brother Ivan, as well as representatives of Conad, Unifrutti and local authorities.

A group of children with Vitaliano Brasini's sons.

In the school, with classrooms, 130 children in the community of Addo participate in educational activities in a safe and secure place, have lunch and spend the afternoon engaged in activities rather than on the street. A normality that is only of developed countries, but in this corner of Africa especially the school means to fulfill basic need of eating everyday and take the first steps out of poverty through education and daily learning. The building will be integrated in the future with other projects (new classrooms, soccer field ...).

The interior of the school Addo.

During periods when the production from Italy or other Mediterranean countries is not available, lemons and oranges marketed under the brand name from of Conad Quality Path come from the Don Brody plantations, in Sun Day Valley, owned by Unifrutti. Hence the idea of a common humanitarian project that would put at the disposal of the people of the place part of the value marketed by both companies to improve the conditions of extreme poverty in which, even today, most of the South African community live.

Claudio Gamberini, Conad group category manager for fruit and vegetables, along with what will become the memorial plaque at the school.

For Conad, increasingly involved in solidarity practices, the structure in Addo is a further step in supporting the educational and social potential of the school, in Italy and abroad (with the project of elementary school in the village of Chimel, Guatemala, the Rigoberta Menchú Foundation to help or that for 210 scholarships and 11 training projects in African countries in collaboration with Rita Levi-Montalcini Foundation).