READ to RISE Comedy Evening 1 December 2018 8pm

Meet Siphamandla - Programme Facilitator

Happy 5th Birthday to READ to RISE

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY

Today we celebrate 5 incredible years of inspiring children to read!

5,265 class programmes
90 schools
72,698 children benefitted
292 Mini-Libraries
114,902 OAKY books given out
10 staff
130,595 books in total given out

Thank you to all our sponsors, volunteers, directors, partners and supporters, we couldn't have done it without you!

A special thank you to the awesome READ to RISE team for the wonderful work they do!

Here's to another 5 amazing years ahead.

Literacy NGO launches 5th Class Programme in Mitchells Plain

‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.’ Nelson Mandela

In celebration of Mandela Day, literacy NGO READ to RISE launched its 5^th class programme on 18 July 2018 at Seaview Primary School in Mitchells Plain (Cape Town). The new book OAKY RUNS A RACE is the fifth book in the OAKY Series, written by award-winning South African poet Athol Williams. The story is about a gruff pine cone who challenges Oaky to a race. Oaky accepts the challenge but he runs much slower than the pine cone. However, there is a surprising outcome to the race.

READ to RISE promotes youth literacy in under-resourced communities in South Africa. The organisation hopes to get children excited about reading with a fun, interactive classroom programme and gives each learner a new book to take home.

The Grade 3 learners at Seaview Primary School were engaged and excited to hear the story, the surprise at the end of the session was that each of the 144 learners received their own brand new OAKY RUNS A RACE book to take home.

The latest PIRLS survey revealed that 78% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa are functionally illiterate. In communities such as Mitchells Plain, children face challenges such as gangsterism, drugs and poverty.

Williams has given rights to READ to RISE to print the OAKY series and receives no royalties. “READ to RISE is able to distribute more OAKY books as it only needs to pay for the printing. I would like to see more authors and illustrators giving back to society.” says Williams.

Since its founding in September 2013, to date READ to RISE has conducted programmes in over 2,300 classes at 95 primary schools – over 70,000 children have benefitted from the programmes. “My message to children would be to internalise the message in each of the OAKY stories. Each story has an important life lesson. As an author it is a very long and isolated process of trying to write something that children will enjoy, so it is incredibly rewarding to see how much children love their OAKY books.” says Williams.

READ to RISE sells the OAKY books to fundraise for their programmes. For every OAKY book bought for R100, it allows the organisation to visit a school and one learner will get a book to take home. Visit www.theartpressbooks.com to buy the OAKY series.

“Every child who has received an OAKY reading book loves it. The fact that each story has a moral value throughout the story-line makes it so valuable for the teachers who instil and sharpen GOOD 

CHARACTER in our learners. Thank you READ to RISE!” Huguenot Primary School Teacher.

The NGO relies on sponsorships from individuals/corporates to conduct their programmes. They work with 45 primary schools in Mitchells Plain (Cape Town) 20 in Soweto (JHB) and 5 in Makhado (Limpopo) -  for only R50 a learner can benefit from the READ to RISE programme. For more information or if you would like to assist READ to RISE in promoting youth literacy, please visit www.readtorise.org or email info@readtorise.co.za

Literacy NGO gives out 100,000th book

Literacy NGO READ to RISE celebrated handing out their 100,000^th OAKY book at Cascade Primary School in Mitchells Plain on Thursday 17 May 2018. The organisation visited the school to conduct their programmes to inspire the Grade 2 and 3 learners to read. As part of the programme, each of the 344 learners received a brand new OAKY book to take home. The organisation has been visiting the school for the last 5 years. “We believe that book ownership can ignite a love for reading and it is important to keep encouraging children to read.” says Executive Director Taryn Lock.

The latest PIRLS survey revealed that 78% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read.

READ to RISE promotes youth literacy in under-resourced communities in South Africa. The organisation hopes to get children excited about reading with a fun, interactive classroom programme and gives each learner a new book to take home. The programmes are based on the OAKY series of children’s books written by award-winning South African poet Athol Williams. There are currently five books in the series and each story has a valuable life lesson such as being brave, being a good friend, dealing with change, finding your true purpose and being happy – lessons which are much needed especially in the gang-ridden communities in which the organisation works.

Williams has given rights to READ to RISE to print the OAKY series and receives no royalties. “READ to RISE is able to distribute more OAKY books as it only needs to pay for the printing. I would like to see more authors and illustrators giving back to society.” says Williams.

Since its founding in September 2013, to date READ to RISE has conducted programmes in over 2,200 classes at 95 primary schools – over 70,000 children have benefitted from the programmes. “My message to children would be to internalise the message in each of the OAKY stories. Each story has an important life lesson. As an author it is a very long and isolated process of trying to write something that children will enjoy, so it is incredibly rewarding to see how much children love their OAKY books.” says Williams.

READ to RISE sells the OAKY books to fundraise for their programmes. For every OAKY book bought for R100, it allows the organisation to visit a school and one learner will get a book to take home. Visit www.theartpressbooks.com to buy the OAKY series.

“Every child who has received an OAKY reading book loves it. The fact that each story has a moral value throughout the story-line makes it so valuable for the teachers who instil and sharpen GOOD CHARACTER in our learners. Thank you READ to RISE!” Huguenot Primary School Teacher.

The NGO relies on sponsorships from individuals/corporates to conduct their programmes. They work with 45 primary schools in Mitchells Plain (Cape Town) 20 in Soweto (JHB) and 5 in Makhado (Limpopo) -  for only R50 a learner can benefit from the READ to RISE programme. For more information or if you would like to assist READ to RISE in promoting youth literacy, please visit www.readtorise.org or email info@readtorise.co.za

Read our story