Kei Mouth Schools

Ikhwili and Siyazahka Schools Library Project

UPDATE

"Great things can be accomplished when people work together as a team." - Unknown

Greetings Dear Friends,

Steve and I, (Steve Meyer and Michelle Storm), together with some friends departed for South Africa in September 2011 for an extended stay during which we re-established and rejuvenated a library at the Khwili Kei Mouth schools in the Eastern Cape.

We would like to thank all of the supporters of this project who helped us raise over $3000. The funds were used for the following:

• transporting books from Johannesburg Humanitarian Resource Center to Kei Mouth to stock the library
• obtaining materials for shelving and furniture, and
• obtaining the supplies for the administration aspects of a working library

Our GOAL is to work jointly with the teachers at Khwili Schools to ascertain their library needs, thereafter providing necessary materials, props, and expertise to operate a functioning facility. We believe such an onsite facility will provide a conduit for increased literacy, thereby providing a means for personal growth and potentially enhanced successful career opportunities.

For most Westerners, reading as a skill is more of a birthright than a privilege. For many people in South Africa, literacy is a luxury. Most South African children do not have a chance to read a book for pleasure. Fifty percent of South Africans are living below the poverty line and unemployment is over twenty-four percent. Available moneys are spent on basic survival and not the luxury of books. Illiteracy rates are high and final school year pass rates remain low. Twenty-four percent of adults are illiterate, approximately six to eight million South Africans are functionally illiterate.

"As a teacher, I believe that Rotary Books for the World is saving children in South Africa from taking the road of substance abuse, and crime while giving them a chance in life to be successful citizens." Sibongile Magwaza - Zulu Lecturer, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Rotary Books for the World, USA, will be supplying books that are less than ten years old. In 2010, Rotary USA shipped over 480 tons of books to South Africa, a third of which originates from the Madison Rotary Group. Their program provides not only textbooks, but also fictional and non-fictional works to students and teachers, saving unused, unwanted books from going to landfills here in the USA.

Kidlinks World, a USA-based non-profit has grown steadily since its inception in 2004. It has been active at the Khwili Kei Mouth schools over the past four years developing school playgrounds and a sustainable food garden.

Thank you for being such an important contributor to the Kidlinks World projects.

Warm regards,

Michelle and Steve

If you would like to donate to the Library Project, you can make your donation using PayPal, or mail us a check:

Make checks out to: Kidlinks World-Library Project. Mail to: Kidlinks World P.O. Box 628283 Middleton, WI 53562

More information can be found below:

• Rotary Books for the World
• Madison Breakfast Rotary Club
• Houston Book Project (video below)