In support of Nelson Mandela Day on July 18, Volkswagen Show of Hands volunteers dedicated their time and skills to repair and brighten up the Alfonso Arries Primary School in Port Elizabeth.
Dedicating more than the recommended 67 minutes, the Volkswagen volunteers took four hours out of their Saturday to transform the school. They painted its new library and car port, landscaped the gardens by planting colourful flowers, bushy shrubs and trees that will one day give shade to Alfonso Arries pupils.
The school building and other outdoor areas were renovated to enhance pupils’ learning. To uplift the school’s sporting codes, kits for the two rugby teams were donated.
The highlight of the day was the handing over of a brand new library to the school. The library was borne out of a partnership between Volkswagen and Breadline Africa, a South African based NGO that specialises in renovating disused shipping containers and recycling them for essential community purposes.
“The statistics in South Africa are not good when one looks at an average child’s ability to comprehend reading material when they are assessed in a classroom. There are numerous reasons for this, among them are limited or no access to books and libraries. For this reason, we thought it would be a fitting initiative in honour of Madiba to partner with Breadline Africa in donating a library to the school,” explained David Powels, Volkswagen Group South Africa’s managing director.
Powels added: “Education is the great engine of personal development – reading is the starting block.”
To ensure that the children have rewarding and meaningful encounters with the books in their new library, representatives from the Nal’ibali national reading-for-enjoyment campaign were on hand to help launch the school’s new reading club.
Sharing this view, VWSA has partnered with Nal’ibali in the Eastern Cape to support the growth of reading clubs in Uitenhage. VWSA has also been a key sponsor of Nal’ibali’s reading-for-enjoyment supplement – the only bilingual literacy supplement of its kind in South Africa to provide reading tips and advice for parents and caregivers, as well as stories to enjoy with children in four South African languages.
“We are so grateful to Volkswagen for the new library and books as it are going to improve the reading skills of the over 1 900 school children,” commented Nomaxabiso Mkencele, Alfonso Arries Primary School principal.
The International Nelson Mandela Day volunteer action marks the 11th community volunteer project initiated by Volkswagen since 2011 in their Show of Hands employee volunteerism campaign. Nearly 1,000 employees have participated in the campaign to date.
Celebrated on 18 July every year, the over-arching objective of International Mandela Day is to inspire individuals to take action and help change the world for the better. Ultimately it seeks to empower communities everywhere to “Take action, inspire change, and make everyday a Mandela Day.”
“Volkswagen is proud to have taken action for Madiba this week and we hope the project will inspire more positive action by our corporate and community neighbours,” added Powels.
Alan Straton
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