Growing Partnerships, Common Goals

The last six months has been a period of measurably increased interest in the Masifunde Sonke project.  Numerous individuals, churches, and development organizations with links to South Africa have made contact, leading to the growth of new partnerships that support the increased development of South African school libraries.  For each book these individuals or organizations purchase that goes directly to their South African-based partner communities, SA Partners donates a second book in their name to a deserving school.    Since both copies of the book remain in South Africa, reducing shipping costs, we are able to direct a small portion of the sale to our teacher training program, further benefiting the schools that are engaged in building their library services.

Michelle Bohler of New Hampshire recently had the opportunity to volunteer with a group of primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal.  Like the majority of individuals who have purchased project books for their partner communities in South Africa, she was looking for a way to continue to contribute after returning home.  

She writes, “I was moved in so many ways by the kids and their excitement, their thirst to learn, and the way they embraced us. Listening to the students sing each morning was unforgettable. Since that experience I have been searching for ways to stay involved and encourage that exuberance for learning.  The Masifunde Sonke project was a perfect way for me to provide resources in the form of beautiful books that the children will surely love.”

Sharon Macdonald of the Hinterland Learners' Resource Network in Ontario, Canada, was thrilled to learn that, not only would SA Partners match each book purchased for her organization’s affiliate schools, but that the books could also be provided in isiXhosa.  She was also pleased that the personalized donation nameplate included in the inside cover of each book bears the name and logo of her organization.   

She adds, “I have been working with a number of barely-served elementary schools, in a deeply rural area of the Eastern Cape for the past three years; and am always on the lookout for suitable children's literature. Your beautiful collection is exactly what we need. This is going to be a very exciting delivery.  Most of these children have never seen anything in print other than a text book.”

In August, MassIMPACT, a Massachusetts-based organization dedicated to IMproving People’s Access to Computer and Technology, purchased ten sets of books to donate to neighborhood community centers at the annual Housing and Urban Development conference in Washington D.C.  Ten matching sets of books were donated to the Silent Sustained Reading project of the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education & Rural Development.

During the holiday season, Jackie Lynch of The First Church of Christ in Marblehead, MA displayed the Masifunde Sonke collection in the parish hall after each service to raise funds for a mobile library in a partner community in KwaZulu-Natal.  Jackie says, “Our relationship with Masifunde Sonke has allowed us to bring the joy of reading to many little children in obscure villages with very limited resources.”  The church plans to continue promoting the project to its community in the upcoming months. 

The Massachusetts Black Librarians Network (MBLN) has generously donated a set of project books to the University of Fort Hare Faculty of Education.  Dean Denise Zinn, who spoke at Boston College in November, explains, “We have a resource centre on our East London campus for all of our elementary education student teachers and will be starting a resource centre on our Alice campus for our secondary school teachers-in-training.  We certainly will make good use of the materials that have been so kindly donated by MBLN!”

The Chicago-based nonprofit organization, Kids Global Network, currently has a project named Connecting Continents, which documents the pen pal relationship between students at Oakton Elementary School in Evanston, Illinois, and Manyeleti Primary School in Mpumalanga.  They have bought a set of books for Oakton School, and SA Partners will donate a set of books to Manyeleti School. 

Ann Covode, Executive Director, writes, “I was excited to learn of the shared goals of our Connecting Continents project and SA Partners’ Masifunde Sonke project.  I hope to work together to explore establishing other U.S.- S.A. sister school agreements, using the books of the Masifunde Sonke project as a basis for mutual sharing.”

This holiday season, a Masifunde Sonke donation gift certificate was introduced as a new way to support the project.  The gift certificates are available year-round in any denomination, and are a perfect alternative for people who have no direct need for children’s books but would still like to support the joy of reading for South African and U.S. children.  All sales go directly to purchasing books in the recipients name for an under-resourced South African school, with SA Partners matching each book.  This holiday season approximately $200 was raised through project gift certificates.  We will work throughout 2008 to grow this initiative so that by the end of this year many more books will be donated to worthy schools in South Africa.. 

May the next six months be a period of equal or greater growth for the Masifunde Sonke project!