This year, we will be celebrating Mandela Day by donating new storybooks to 22 schools in Kanyamanzane, Mpumalanga.
Mandela Day is celebrated every year on the 18th July and people from all over the world are encouraged to spend at least 67 minutes (1 minute for every year of Madiba’s public service) doing something positive for their communities. This day has grown from honouring Madiba’s life and legacy, to becoming a global movement to honour his life’s work and act to change the world for the better.
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” – Nelson Mandela
For Mandela Day 2016, 22 Primary Schools in Kanyamanzane, Mpumalanga will be receiving a donation of storybooks from Biblionef. Each school will be receiving approximately 200 new storybooks! 66%* of the donated storybooks will be in the children’s home language of Siswati. With only 2.5% of the South African population speaking Siswati, the sad reality is that it is difficult to find a good range of storybooks in the Siswati language. Biblionef has experience in sourcing appropriate children’s storybooks and has commissioned the publishing of various children’s storybooks in all 11 languages. As a result, Biblionef is able to provide these 22 schools with new, high-quality Siswati storybooks that are beautifully illustrated and contain stories that South African children can relate to.
“Biblionef has identified these 22 schools as not only being extremely under-resourced but the children attending these schools speak one of South Africa’s minority languages. Some of these children have never seen storybooks in their mother tongue before. It is vital that every child has the opportunity to read storybooks in their mother tongue. The Biblionef staff has spent the last month identifying these schools and are extremely excited to personally hand-over this donation to them” – Jean Williams, Executive Director of Biblionef SA
On Monday the 18th July 2016, Biblionef’s staff members will personally hand over the donation of storybooks to representatives from the 22 schools. The handover will take place at Lepesi Primary School in Mpumalanga.
*The remaining 34% of books donated by Biblionef will be in English. This will assist with the children’s language development