The Mandela Day Library project team arrived at the Reichenau Mission Primary School on a cold Friday, 24 June 2016. It was the last day of the school term at this little rural school in KwaZulu-Natal and there was much excitement as the team launched its 11th joBerg2c container library, donated by Danny Vogel, a German cyclist with a mission to make a difference.
Vogel attends the joBerg2c race every year, offering exceptionally generous donations, and last year he decided to create a library with the help of his home town, Mainz. He harnessed the help of his entire community, along with local Mainz schools Marc Chagall Grundschule, Feldbergschule and IGS Nieder-Olm to insulate, shelve and paint the library container before shipping it to Durban, South Africa, where the team was delighted to take over with the help of local companies Time Freight and Container Conversions to pull the last details together and get the library to the school.
Headmistress Mrs Mkhize, the nuns, governing body and delightful pupils gave the team an exceptional welcome.
A delightful special touch to this heartwarming project was that the programme director was Grade 5 pupil Anaele Myende, who was preparing to take part in a public speaking competition. She made us proud to be South Africans and to bear witness to our exceptionally talented youth.
The team was delighted to host Department of Education circuit manager BBL Nhleko, who is committed to enhancing the educational future of 36 schools in the area.
The Mandela Day Library project team arrived with 980 quality fiction and non-fiction volumes, courtesy of Rotary International; magazines and books donated by generous suppliers, including Joe’s Magz; and a full set of The Urban Legend comics (featuring the fictional superhero Malcolm T Madiba, about a school teacher who protects children), donated from Norway.
The team also donated child-sized tables and chairs, and reading charts ,to add to the library and make it a special place of joy, relaxation and knowledge, and the kids were treated to chips and cold drinks. The school also received an additional 300 early-reader books in Zulu, English and Xhosa from the Quali-Funda Initiative.
Robert Coutts, chief executive officer of the Mandela Day Library project and founder of the Participate for Good campaign, encourages children to learn to read, dream big and follow in the footsteps of our great icon and legend Nelson Mandela who also hailed from a small village and went on to change a nation and lead a country.
The children were delighted to receive 10 brand-new Mandela soccer balls, while their dedicated teachers received copper Mandela bangles from the project team as a token of gratitude for their hard work and commitment.
The exciting events of the day are sure to provide the children with something to talk and dream about in their holidays before they return to school for the new term.
Danny Vogel’s donated library will make a real difference in these kids’ lives, and hopefully the ripple effect will extend to their loved ones too.