In Kenya land is provided to keep a family of 4 self-sufficient in vegetables all year round. Resource is also provided to teach good nutritional principles, providing a choice between traditional and western food.

 

Malawi
In Malawi we have an ongoing programme to upgrade the living standards on our estates.
The pictures show one example of many hundreds of such upgrades.
Housing improvements for our workers is an ongoing programme.

India
Standard housing is provided to accommodate every worker with a family resident in the tea gardens of the Dooars in West Bengal and Assam. Sanitary facilities, bathing enclosures with proper water supply is provided to all the houses and most houses have a supply of electricity.  Labour Welfare Officers, resident in the tea gardens, regularly visit the houses to monitor the maintenance of the houses and to ensure that all facilities are operating properly.

Education is fundamental to the Camellia vision of sustainable social progress.

Bangladesh
Duncan Brothers is an example of this making a real difference to community development. In sixteen of our tea gardens there are twenty six primary schools funded and run by us, in addition to ten government aided primary schools. In our schools there are sixty teachers teaching some 3,250 children with all the schools running  a morning and afternoon shift. Taking this one step further, a fully residential secondary school for employee’s children, the Camellia Duncan Foundation School (CDFS), has been operating since 2004 and achieving excellent results with approximatley seventy students and fifteen teachers.

India
All the tea gardens in the Dooars and Assam have primary schools for workers’ children. Also the Goodricke School for Special Education in Siliguri educates approximately one hundred children with special needs and physical disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Autism.

 

We manage our operations in a responsible manner to minimise the environmental impact of our activities. In Kenya conservation and preservation of indigenous forest is subject to regular audit and impact assessments and our employees are provided with environmental training to support continuous improvement. In 2010 our Kenyan operation won the "Environmental Excellence Award" presented by MBank East Africa and in 2011 we were presented with the Unilever "Winning through Sustainability" award.

Our Margaret’s Hope tea garden in Darjeeling showing "Salamander Lake" a uniquely preserved environment for this endangered species.



Goodricke, our Indian tea business, also has a rigorous policy of environmental protection and conservation of the ecosystem backed by training programmes for all employees for initiating and implementing conservation measures. The company’s conservation programme includes reduction in fossil fuel usage and soil protection measures to ensure ground coverage, integrated weed management and contoured hill drainage.

Part of the process whereby waste Kenyan tea factory water is filtered through a series of ponds planted with selected plants that absorb nutrients, cleaning the water during the process before release back into the natural water courses.

Abbey Metal Finishing acknowledges responsibility to the environment. In line with this concern our latest investments include processing plant that recycles process water, a fully enclosed solvent vapour degreasing facility and a modern extraction system providing a safe environment for both our workforce and our surroundings.

Camellia has always firmly believed that the well-being of the community has a direct and positive impact on our operations; this is why we invest heavily in health programmes across our businesses.

Bangladesh
As an example of delivering a comprehensive health programme to our workforce, in 1989, Duncan Brothers, Bangladesh, launched a Primary Health Care Programme, the first of its kind in the private sector. The programme provides a three-tier support system; starting with household preventive care, followed by garden dispensaries with clinics for routine health, family planning, primary emergency care and referrals, and a third tier providing full medical support at the Camellia Duncan Foundation Hospital, a fully equipped 50 bed facility. The hospital serves workers in Duncan Brothers tea gardens, treating annually around 15 000 out-patients and 2 600 in-patients, of which around 365 patients require surgical interventions, all of which are undertaken at the hospital.

The combination of the Primary Health Care Programme and the Camellia Duncan Foundation Hospital has been acclaimed both at home and abroad. Queen Elizabeth II, patron of The Centre for World Development Education, U. K., awarded Duncan Brothers the RTZ World Development Award for progress in 1991.

India
Every Garden in the Dooars in West Bengal and Assam has a well equipped Garden Hospital run by a team of qualified and trained medical and para-medical staff including a doctor, pharmacist, nurse, health assistant and nursing attendants. Each of these hospitals can take care of emergencies, out patients visits and routinely encountered ailments and diseases. Workers and their families are given free medical treatment and medicine. There is a central specialist Group Hospital with advanced medical and diagnostic infrastructure at Aibheel Tea Garden in the Dooars to deal with patients from Gardens requiring more complicated diagnosis and treatment. The company’s medical and healthcare team regularly provide training, seminars and health camps on different medical and health conditions to staff and local people.