Ho-hum. The holidays are over. You’re back at work, the kids are at school. For what seems an eternity, you’ll all be looking at the same dreary four walls, the same dreary faces, and performing the same dreary functions that you did last year.
Or ... you could go on a weekend adventure in the next few weeks, travelling in comfort and safety with your family or work colleagues, to change forever the lives of hundreds of disadvantaged children.
Between now and the end of March, Rally to Read, the rural education programme in which the FM is a partner, will run six weekend rallies to deliver books and stationery to underresourced schools around South Africa. We still have room for new sponsors and volunteers to join us on some of these expeditions.
This is the 25th anniversary of Rally to Read. Since 1998, the programme has been the only hope of literacy for hundreds of remote primary schools around South Africa. Nearly 700,000 children have received the gifts of reading and writing.
Sadly, the country’s rural illiteracy crisis shows no sign of easing. At the age of 14, when they are due to enter high school, the average reading age of rural children is seven. At Rally to Read schools, this learning gap is bridged, enabling children to continue their education and, in a growing number of cases, even continue to university.
If you think that sounds like corporate PR, come and see for yourself. Sponsors and their guests are encouraged to personally deliver the educational materials they pay for. These include portable classroom libraries containing colourful books for classroom and private reading, stationery and even sporting goods such as footballs and netballs. You are encouraged to interact with the children you are helping, as well as their families and community members. Their gratitude is obvious, sometimes overwhelming. Tears of emotion among sponsors are common.
Each Rally to Read school is supported for at least three years to ensure literacy takes hold and becomes self-sustaining. The programme also includes teacher training, managed by South Africa’s leading education NGO, the Read Educational Trust. Many of the schools being supported in 2023 are actually in their fourth year of the programme, because so much classroom time was lost during the pandemic.
Since 1998, Rally to Read has been the only hope of literacy for hundreds of remote primary schools around South Africa
This year is also unique in that it includes events in Gauteng for the first time. The province doesn’t contain the remote rural areas that Rally to Read was originally set up to support, but Covid has created other crises that can’t be ignored.
Ford South Africa, which has sponsored rural rallies in Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape, is this year also supporting schools in Mamelodi, the Tshwane township that is home to many of the workers at Ford’s vehicle assembly plant in Silverton.
Financial services company Investec is working with Rally to Read to help schools in Orange Farm, south of Joburg.
With its quarter-century history of success in “forgotten” schools, Rally to Read is uniquely qualified to use its experience elsewhere.
Other, traditional rallies continue. Free State supporters will visit schools in the Welkom area, while those in KwaZulu-Natal will venture into the countryside outside Bergville. Jonsson Workwear, the apparel company whose corporate investment foundation is Rally to Read’s lead partner and a major sponsor for many years, will host the latter.
Ford South Africa and Mercedes-Benz South Africa, meanwhile, will once again host rallies in the Eastern Cape, near Gqeberha and East London respectively.
A Western Cape rally took place at the end of 2022.
Of the upcoming rallies, some are single-day, Saturday events, while others will continue into Sunday. All start early morning on Saturday with the loading of libraries and other materials into sponsors’ vehicles, followed by the visits to schools. Weekend-long events include Saturday night dinner and accommodation, then a leisurely drive home on Sunday.
It costs R39,000 to be a full Rally to Read sponsor, and half that to be a part-sponsor. No extra costs are involved in rally weekends, beyond fuel and alcoholic drinks.
The full 2023 Rally to Read programme is:
- February 4: Free State
- February 11: KwaZulu-Natal
- February 18: Mamelodi
- February 25: Orange Farm
- March 4-5: East London
- March 25-26: Gqeberha
- Western Cape: date to be decided
* To learn more about Rally to Read, to become a sponsor or to find out which 2023 rally still has space for guests, visit rallytoread.org.za, e-mail rallytoread@read.co.za, or call 087-237-7781
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