The children at OJ Erasmus Primary School in Kalkbaskraal, 18km outside Malmesbury on the West Coast, are going to start the 2015 school year off on the right foot – with 366 much-needed stationery packs, thanks to Cape Town-based NGO, Breadline Africa. The learners, who started school this week, come from rural and peri-urban communities surrounding the school and their families simply cannot afford to buy the stationery required. After hearing about the plight of the children, Breadline Africa stepped in and arranged stationery packs to help get them started.
“Education is the road that children follow to reach their full potential in life”, said project officer for Breadline Africa, Edna Titus. “When we approached the principal, Mr John Goodman, he was extremely grateful that we were able to get involved and assist the learners with this fundamental requirement for school success. These children are our future, they are in their most formative years of their education, the stationery drive was the very least that we could do.”
“Breadline Africa, also visited the Rustasie Primary School in Moorreesburg, providing its learners with stationery packs and ensuring that they are well prepared for class.
With a history spanning more than 20 years Breadline Africa has provided in excess of 250 containers to poverty stricken communities, providing classrooms, ablution blocks, kitchens and more than 52 container libraries that have been placed in various schools to cultivate a love of reading.”
“We buy sturdy, water-tight containers at a low cost and transform them into mobile structures. Our projects try to establish a level of self-sustainability within the community,” Titus said.
The disused shipping containers are renovated and used as community kitchens to serve food to the very poor, Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres for children, ablution blocks and libraries in schools.
“Seeing the joy on each of the children’s faces and knowing that we’ve made a small difference is incentive enough for us. We wish them all the best as they start their new school year,” Titus said.
Edna Titus – Projects Officer: edna@breadlineafrica.org.za
Tel: 021-4180322
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