On 6 September 2014, right in the middle of National Literacy Week, students and educators at Skeen Primary School in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, celebrated the opening of the school’s Mandela Day container library.
The library is the 49th facility of it kind to open since the launch of the Mandela Day container library project in 2012, and is the second library to be sponsored by Volkswagen South Africa this year.
In a fabulous show of support, Volkswagen staff and their families arrived at Skeen Primary School early on the day of the launch and spent the morning lending their hands to all sorts of things taking shape at the school – from stacking the library shelves to establishing a vegetable garden.
As part of its corporate social investment, Volkswagen’s Show of Hands campaign gets its employees actively involved in community development.
On the day, Food and Trees for Africa lead a team of volunteers in planting trees in front of the library and a establishing a vegetable garden. Another team was responsible for painting the library and another painted palisade fencing around the library.
It was a full day of activity for all volunteers.
In the library the children helped clean shelves, label books and put up posters, while their moms helped classify and level the books. The library looked great in the end, with an opening stock of 1 100 books.
There are 1 337 students who attend Skeen Primary from Grades R to 7, and classrooms are filled with an average of 55 learners per class.
The school once used a classroom as a library facility, but had to remove it due to increased enrolment – a common occurrence in South African schools.
Headed by Mr Phillemon Mashishi, Skeen Primary is vibrant with activity. Through his leadership the learners are exposed to a variety to sports, which has enabled them to travel to places they would not normally be exposed to.
Principal Mashishi and his staff have a “can-do” attitude and it is for this reason, among others, that Breadline Africa has placed this container library in the care of those poised to make a difference.
The public sector partnership with Breadline Africa means that the Mandela Day container library at Skeen Primary School will be supported and monitored by district level library and information services, to assist Breadline Africa in ensuring impact and sustainability.
Breadline Africa looks forward to working with the school and welcoming Gloria, the designated librarian, to the upcoming training in October this year.
