With national pride – and national flags – still flying high throughout the country Southern Sun Hotels has launched another nation building initiative, one that will warm hearts, literally.

With sixty-four Southern Sun hotels in South Africa having proudly hoisted the flags of the FIFA World Cup participants, the question now is what to do with these beautiful pieces of fabric? Ever conscious of the broader social environment, Southern Sun Hotels’ new project is transforming thousands of flags into beautiful blankets for underprivileged children.

 

“With winter upon us, this initiative provides the perfect opportunity to extend the sense of delight we are all reveling in post the World Cup,” says Priya Naidoo, GM of Communications at Southern Sun. “If we harness our sense of creativity as a nation, there are a myriad of means to augment the positive effects of this recent event.”

 

Rather than discard the many flags adorning its hotels, Southern Sun has sourced warm, cost effective blanketing material, and has appointed previously disadvantaged unemployed individuals with access to industrial sewing machines, to sew the flags onto the blankets, thereby producing eiderdowns.

 

The project has been launched internally, but ultimately Southern Sun Hotels aims to inspire other South African organisations to do the same. “We encourage businesses to participate in this venture and would be happy for them to utilise the resources and infrastructure we have in place,” says Naidoo.

 

Southern Sun Hotels will have approximately 2 000 blankets to distribute in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

 

“This project will generate employment, uplift communities and by reusing the flags, it will reduce environmental waste too,” says Naidoo. “Most importantly, it will physically extend the wonderful sense of warmth associated with the World Cup.”