Seven DUT 2nd Year PR Students, who have called their group Siyabathanda, meaning 'we care', coordinated the donor drive from the pre-publicity, to the educational talks, to arranging for the South African National Blood Services (SANBS) to be on campus to take the required two test tubes of blood.

A total of twenty three young, healthy and committed potential bone marrow stem cell donors were recruited at DUT's Steve Biko Campus on Wednesday, 17th August.
The Sunflower Fund would like to thank Siyabathanda for their commitment to the project.

Caption:
The Sunflower Fund, SANBS and Netcare Parklands teamed up on World Blood Donor Day, Tuesday, 14th June, to host a bone marrow stem cell and blood drive. The SANBS mobile clinic was set up outside the Parklands coffee shop and the weather was beautiful as strangers chatted happily before giving their blood in the aim of saving a life.

A total of forty new bone marrow stem cell donors were recruited and will be tissue typed for inclusion on the South African Bone Marrow Registry.

According to Ianthe Exall, Marketing Manager for SANBS in KZN, every day in South Africa, SANBS need to collect 3000 units of blood to supply the hospital with their needs for patients requiring transfusions and to do this is a challenge. Blood drives, such as the one at Parklands Hospital, gives us the opportunity to reach out to people in their work situation and also to the public in general.

Read more: Forty new donors on World Blood Donor Day