Each year we are approached by generous individuals looking to make a lasting difference to lives of underprivileged children we support in South Africa and 2016 has been no exception…
In early Spring we were approached by Alfie, Ben, Stan and Ellis, a group of students from Devon, looking to climb the highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales in under 40 hours. A few weeks later, Norma from London contacted us after completing the London Marathon.
They were each looking for an African education charity project to support and stumbled upon the SOS Africa Charity website. After looking through the suggestions on our Charity Fundraising Pages, we were delighted to hear they had decided to raise funds to provide books for the children we support in the Western Cape.
One key resource lacking in the SOS Africa Aftercare Centres, and within the schools attended by our children, is English language reading books. Books suitable for all reading ages are scarce in South African schools, particularly in the Western Cape where most subjects are taught in Afrikaans. Due to the lack of funding available to local governments, public libraries are also all but non-existent in most small towns. Thanks to the efforts of Alfie, Ben, Stan, Ellis and Norma, this is now no-longer the case in SOS Africa’s Western Cape Aftercare Centres.
After their formidable fundraising achievements SOS Africa has now opened an Aftercare Club library stocked with books for all age ranges and reading levels. Their efforts have also enabled our staff to implement a book borrowing scheme whereby our children are able to sign out books to take home with them after school.
Shortly after, we had the pleasure of sending photos of the new libraries to the people who have made them possible. Norma promptly forwarded these on to her sponsors and received a wonderful response:
“The sponsors they were all very touched and some were moved to tears to see the children looking so happy and their wonderful smiles said it all.”
On behalf of the SOS Africa children, we would like to thank Alfie, Ben, Stan, Ellis, Norma and their sponsors for their fantastic achievements and for the lasting difference they have made to children supported by SOS Africa now and for many years to come…
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If Alfie, Ben, Stan, Ellis and Norma have inspired you, why not visit our Fundraising Section and start a fundraising adventure of your own?
