Obbligato

Contemporary planters and furniture for a modern lifestyle.

Social Responsibility

Obbligato is committed to assisting marginalised individuals and contributing to the upliftment of disadvantaged communities.

We are involved with QASA (The QuadPara Association of South Africa) participating in a number of projects including education and equipment sponsorship.

We provide employment for crafters from disadvantaged communities assisting them to become self sufficient, enabling them to support their extended families. These crafters make the beaded accessories that compliment our planters. They take great pride in their work producing outstanding products to order.

Some of the decorative bead plants we sell are made by crafters from Woza Moya at the Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust in Durban, South Africa, as a means to promote their work with local, income generating, community based projects. The crafters at Woza Moya produced many of the beaded plants for us that were exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2007 with our products.

QASA was established in 1978. Since then the organisation has grown to include eight regions. Five years ago QASA employed its National Director to develop the organisation. QASA has subsequently devised a strategy and business plan including access issues, education & skills development, rehabilitation, advocacy & lobbying, and awareness raising.

At the start, the Association was established for the benefit of quadriplegics. In September 2004 QASA changed its Constitution to include paraplegics, changing the name of the Association to the QuadPara Association of South Africa.

QASA’s function is to serve quadriplegics, paraplegics and the disability sector in general in whatever capacity our members find most constructive. The organisation aims to assist people with mobility impairments to lead independent lives with a decent standard of living, in areas ranging from personal care and assistive devices to adequate skills development and employment.

QASA constantly consults directly and indirectly with its members to determine their needs and ensure that the Association is constantly evolving to meet these needs. In turn, QASA is represented in many forums at all levels of the public and private sectors to ensure that the needs of people with mobility impairments are met.

Contact Ari Seirlis (National Director) for more information about Qasa on 031 767 0348

Woza Moya is a self-help project initiated by the Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust, as part of a holistic care program. Clients, who are either affected/infected by HIV, are referred to either the feeding scheme or the income generation project by the nurses. Depending upon the client’s state of health and family demands.

The centre found it was possible to improve quality of life of our clients though access to nurses, medication and home based care but this is not sustainable without a regular income, hence the birth of the income generation project. The feeding scheme is a short term measure until some form of income generation training has taken place.

The project aims to uplift people affected/infected by HIV/AIDS. It helps men and women regain hope and dignity by getting them to use their creativity to earn an income. At present Woza Moya acts as an agent for over 170 crafters.

As the AIDS epidemic increases more families are turning to them for help and are assisted by offering training in beadwork, wirework, ceramics, fabric painting, crochet and sewing. The centre then markets the goods for them. They endeavor to give their crafters the best possible price for their goods so that they have a regular, sustainable income.

They are a dynamic and creative organization whose primary focus is beadwork; they have two sewing groups, a ceramic group, a wonderful fabric painting group who make anything from ethnic inspired table cloths and cushion covers to conference bags, a crochet group which takes on large orders, as well as a wirework group which produces assorted custom made wirework.

As the AIDS epidemic increases it is of the utmost importance that more local businesses create job opportunities for local crafts people. By doing so they are creating employment for a group of people that are seen as unemployable because of their HIV status.

The Hillcrest AIDS centre has proven that, with the right care and access to medication, lives can be turned around. They have found that economic empowerment is the single most important factor in fighting this epidemic because it gives the crafters (who are all infected or affected by HIV/AIDS) the luxury of looking to the future and in doing so taking ownership of their disease and having something to live for. The health benefits of this alone can NEVER be underestimated.

Obbligato is a BEE rated company - certificate available on request.

Obbligato Decor cc PO Box 190 Pinetown 3600 Tel: +27 31 701 6565 Fax: +27 31 702 0753 info@obbligato.co.za