Bringing books to the coast
It was an 8 000-mile journey to get the books and learning materials to South Africa.
SEVERAL schools from Scotland have joined hands to donate their old textbooks and a library of books to small schools and crèches on the South Coast.
Three schools – Wallace Primary in Elderslie, St James’s Primary in Renfrew and Garrowhill Primary in Glasgow’s east end – have donated old workbooks and library books to Food4Africa.
Well-known businesswoman, Pauline Lee’s sister, Dawn Broadberry, who lives in Scotland, is the founder of the non-profit organisation called Food4Africa UK.
The charity works with orphans across Southern Africa by supplying nutritional meals and providing safe, enriching learning environments.
The learning materials include spelling workbooks, reading and library books and maths worksheets.
In total, 1.5 tonnes of materials was shipped to Africa but not without the help of several volunteers such as Ker Manson from Newton Mearns who took time off work to drive the shipment to Heathrow Airport, from where it was shipped to South Africa by SAA Cargo.
Ms Broadberry has been working closely with Two Tunics, a Port Shepstone-based NGO, to get this project off the ground.
All the books arrived safely in Ramsgate in December and Mrs Lee and an enthusiastic team of locals have been working to sort and distribute the books to different crèches and after-care projects on the coast.
“This could be the start of an ongoing relationship with teachers and schools in the UK. It’s the first one facilitated by Food4Africa UK. However Food4Africa UK has been supplying funds for nutritional porridge for local crèches for quite a number of years,” explained Mrs Lee.
Ms Broadberry said that without the help of willing volunteers like Ker and companies like SAA Cargo, the 8 000 mile journey from Glasgow to South Africa would be impossible.
She said that they, together with the 2 000 children who will benefit from these donations, are extremely grateful for the support.
“When the learning materials reach their final destination on the South Coast, they will be used in a new after-school library and learning project; as well as in three of our established Food4Africa crèches,” said Ms Broadberry.
