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Rally to Read has had remarkable success since it was launched in 1998 to counter the collapse in education at rural primary schools. Picture: SUPPLIED
Rally to Read has had remarkable success since it was launched in 1998 to counter the collapse in education at rural primary schools. Picture: SUPPLIED

Imagine life if you were unable to read: no books, no magazines, no social media (except for pictures). The world would leave you behind. You couldn’t read street signs, the instructions on your medication, the ingredients in your food, the cooking instructions for your meal.

Unable to write? No social media messages to friends (if you have any), you wouldn’t be able to fill in job application forms or any of the other everyday tasks involving the alphabet that others take for granted.   

Worst of all, you’d be considered stupid. In the minds of many, illiteracy equates to idiocy and ignorance. You’re just plain lazy.

Welcome to the world of rural South African children, victims of a failing education system and dysfunctional schools. If the nearest school is several kilometres away, it has no books and most of the older community members are also illiterate, who will teach the children to read and write?

The answer: You will. By supporting Rally to Read, the rural education programme in which the FM is an organising partner, you will give dozens, perhaps hundreds, of primary school children a chance to learn to read and to write their own future.

Since 1998, the programme has supported forgotten schools in some of the most remote corners of South Africa. Nearly 700,000 children have benefited from our portable classroom libraries carrying colourful books for group and private reading, as well as stationery and basic sports equipment, to encourage both mental and physical development.

This is not a drop-and-go project, however. Each school is supported for at least three years, to build the foundations for sustainable literacy. South Africa’s leading education NGO, the Read Educational Trust, provides continuous teacher training throughout the period — and sometimes beyond — to ensure children and staff alike get the most from the programme. Parents and local communities are also encouraged to engage.

It’s not just your money we want but also your presence — to see the difference you are making in children’s lives

For sponsors, there is the opportunity to personally experience progress in the school they support. Each year, Rally to Read organisers invite sponsors and their guests, including children, to join them on one- or two-day weekend expeditions to schools, to hand over their goods and meet the children. Some schools have barely a dozen pupils, others 200 or 300. It depends on the local geography and the needs of nearby communities.

If you are one of the sponsors who join us, you will immediately realise that illiteracy does not equate with stupidity. The children you will meet are every bit as bright as those in the cities. All they lack is opportunity.

Take, for example, the KwaZulu-Natal girl who grew tired of waiting for education in her mountain village school, taught herself to read and write, then returned to the school to teach her former classmates — as a 12-year-old.

Thousands upon thousands of children who would have dropped out of education after primary school have progressed successfully to high school and beyond, either to university or other tertiary education establishments.

They are proof that education and intelligence are not the same. As many universities and business schools will testify, many of their best students came to education late in their lives.

A full programme of rallies for 2023 is being finalised. Provinces where they will take place include the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State. At least one other province is in the running to join that list.

It costs R39,000 to become a full sponsor. That will buy two classroom libraries and at least one year of teacher training. A R19,500 half-sponsorship will buy one library and a year’s training. Smaller amounts will also be welcome.

It’s not just your money we want but also your presence — to see the difference you are making in children’s lives.

For more information, or to become a sponsor, visit rallytoread.org.za.

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