School Aid is on a mission to refurbish, and stock libraries in South African schools in developing areas, and has recently opened four additional libraries giving more children access to thousands of books, and the pleasure of reading, education and escapism.
“90% of all South African government schools don’t have fully functioning libraries,” says School Aid SA director Wendy Spalding. That’s a shocking statistic and one that School Aid is working to resolve. The charity ships and delivers over 50,000, books to 40 South African schools each year after collecting them from sister-schools and contributors in the UK.
So far the charity has provided high-quality books and educational resources to over 100 schools in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal, and creates two functional and managed school libraries each year. But the charity needs more financial support and active volunteers to expand its work to boost literacy.
“We are working on the funding to grow our efforts exponentially we want to create more than two school libraries a year,” says chairman Vuyelwa Masangwana. “All our funding and books have been coming from School Aid UK, and while we’re very grateful for its support, we need to do more within South Africa to ensure growth and sustainability, because there’s a critical need for literacy.”
In addition to the distribution of books, the charity also funds the physical refurbishment of an existing library and supplies a computer with library software installed for the efficient running of the facility.
School Aid identifies a member of the local community to become the library assistant, and they undergo training and mentorship by the only School Aid employee, Michael Makwela.
School Aid now needs more volunteers to help students learn to read and run reading sessions, as well as spelling games and help refurbish libraries. “We work with very underprivileged schools in urban communities, but we haven’t been able to do much in the rural areas because of a lack of volunteers,” Spalding says.
School Aid is working to strengthen its local support base and is launching a drive to attract local sponsors and volunteers. “This is a South African crisis within our education system, and we need to localise the efforts and make it about South Africans helping South Africa,” concludes Spalding.
To get involved, email the team [email protected].
