‘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 5th 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
