Maya Angelou’s celebrated poem, “Phenomenal Women”, best describes something with which we are all familiar – that unmatchable feminine energy that the women in our lives bring!
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Just as women form the backbone of our families and our communities, they are also an essential component of the Lynca Meats workforce in all aspects of pork processing and production. From the office to the demanding (and cold!) deboning plant, this Women’s Day, we celebrate them, as valued members of our staff, and as the mothers, grandmothers, daughters, aunts, and sisters of our extended community. We celebrate their femininity, their strength, and their commitment to Lynca Meats.
Though farms and pork processing plants are male dominated and physically intensive environments, Lynca Meats employs hundreds of women without whom running the business would never be possible. Many are sole breadwinners for their families and come from the communities surrounding Lynca Meats’ operations, and so the organisation is proud to spearhead a number of female-focussed projects to assist in a multitude of ways.
“Although COVID-19 has forced us to put the brakes on some projects we had in the pipeline this year, we continue to help women inside and outside the organisation wherever we can,” said Melissa Franken, CSI Liasion at Lynca Meats. “We continue to offer support to our employees on common women’s issue through the Lynca LifeLine Workshops – a safe platform to talk about our issues and emotional wellness in general.”
Further out into the community, Lynca Meats works closely with a number of organisations to assist schools in the area – where the drop-out rate is significant, especially among girls. The company has engaged the help of Mrs. South Africa Semi-Finalist, Mmule Ramothibe Ka Pityana, who shares her story to inspire young girls in the Sicelo community to stay in school.
“We have also engaged with a local landowner, who is allowing us to start a community food garden on her property. This will offer some much needed fresh produce to the women of this poor community and their families, particularly in the midst of the current lockdown restrictions”, added Franken.
COVID-permitting, Lynca Meats is excited to pick up on its various other projects in the works as soon as possible, working hard in the knowledge that so many lives and livelihoods depend on the hard-working women of LYNCA and its surrounding communities.
About Lynca Meats
From its humble beginnings as a family-run piggery in 1988, Lynca Meats has evolved into a leading pork producer in South Africa, processing over 360 000 pigs annually. At Lynca Meats customer partnerships and relationships are at the core of their success, they go the extra mile to provide each customer with a unique, customised service and product offering to ensure optimal customer satisfaction, growth, and profitability. To underpin this passion and purpose and to ensure consistent quality, Lynca Meats implements rigorous safety and quality practices and are accredited with the highest quality management system worldwide, FSSC22000.
Food safety is an increasingly complex undertaking and producing safe, high quality and nourishing food are fundamental to Lynca Meats’ very existence. All quality certifications, highlighting that Lynca Meats systems rate amongst the best in the world to ensure food safety and consistent quality, includes Pork360 Abattoir Registration; SANS 10330: 2007 HACCP (SABS); PAS 220 (SABS); Woolworths Proof of Audits; Food Safety Assessment Audits and Export Status Certificate (ZA14).
For further information, please contact:
Refilwe Makamedi
M: 073 544 4376
