UK schools invited to donate books to South African schools project

Children with the English language books donated as part of the ‘Help a South African School’ scheme

Primary schools around the UK are being asked to donate unwanted English language books as part of the ‘Help a South African School’ scheme.

The nationwide initiative, now in its seventh year, encourages primary schools to support young children in South Africa by donating unwanted English language and reading books. Some 1,100 boxes of books were donated from 80 different schools last year. Only 7% of South African schools have libraries and illiteracy is a big problem, which means their schools are in desperate need of resources.

The boxes were stored by Manchett’s in Warboys, Cambridgeshire over the collection period. The South African fruit industry also worked with transport companies MyHermes, Damco and Maersk, who kindly donated their services to ensure that the books reached South Africa safely.

This is part of an ongoing campaign to promote South African fruit. Jacques du Preez, General Manager Trade & Markets, Hortgro said: “This project illustrates the strong link between purchasing South African fruit and making a difference to the country; it has galvanised support from across the industry and beyond”

James Hammond, Damco said: “We have been delighted to assist with this tremendously rewarding and worthwhile project and couldn’t have done so without the magnificent assistance of our colleagues at Maersk Line in the UK and our friends at LCL in South Africa. All parties involved gave their time and resources to ensure that the books were collected and delivered in the appropriate manner. It’s great to be involved in this project from all in the Maersk organisation.”