Rally to Read – Ford SA helps bring hope to those that need it most

By Lawrence Minnie

Ford SA invited members of the media to join them on the Mpumalanga leg of the Rally to Read. AutoTrader was privileged to be a part of this extraordinary initiative that seeks to bring literacy and opportunity to the communities that need it most.

What is Rally to Read?

Rural schools almost always have one thing in common and that is access to educational resources. These are some of the simplest things that we take for granted in our town schools, resources such as library books, science kits, sports equipment, educational toys and aids for teachers and parents.

Rally to Read creates drop kits that are carried, by teams of volunteers and sponsors, to the remotest of villages to help the schools that are simply forgotten about.

Our Rally

Due to the far-off placement of the schools we visited, it was an early start. With our vehicles loaded up with as much equipment as we could carry, we set off just after 7 am.

Our first stop was a small primary school, Mpunzama Primary is set way up in the hills, barely accessible by car. We estimated that there were roughly 250-300 children being taught in the three buildings. Bucket water and pit toilets are the reality that these children face every day and yet the absolute joy, when we arrived, showed just how important this drive is.

Almost all the parents were there along with teachers, all very proud of their students. The students sang songs, danced and recited poems in their home languages.

There were a few speeches, a representative from the Department of Education and a Rally to Read trainer spoke about the importance of the resource kits and the Principal of the school signed a pledge.

The pledge is signed by all participants and states that they will care for the resources and pledge to improve their test scores over the next three years when the Rally will return.

It was time to celebrate, there was more singing and dancing and as much as we wanted to stay and enjoy the moment, we, unfortunately, had to hit the road as another school awaited.

Our second stop was over an hour away, Mhwanyi Primary had patiently waited for us in the blistering Lowveld heat and to benefit many of the village elders and the children we decided to keep the speeches to a minimum, their grade R’s recited a small play, the schools dance team did a Pantsula dance and a young girl sang a self-composed song about reading.

The Pledge was signed and the entire school group, teachers and village elders had a sponsored lunch. It was just too hot to do anything else!

Final thoughts

I walked away from our rally with mixed emotions. On one hand, I was happy to see the joy we’d brought to these communities and on the other, I was sad that these children had to deal with this in the first place.

As an individual who uses literacy to make a living, I cannot say enough about how important this drive is. Seeing how excited the communities tied to these schools get over four wooden boxes filled with books and some storage tubs with educational toys and stationary is something special.

It also gives you pause for thought, about how privileged we actually are. We might not have much in terms of money to give but we do have our time and that is more important than you can imagine.

Seeing the emotion, the look of thanks and joy from these kids is something you cannot buy and just knowing that you have lit a candle in the dark for these children and maybe changed the course of their lives is a feeling that you cannot put into words.

I take my hat off to companies like Ford SA and the other sponsors, the Rally to Read should be supported by anyone and everyone and I will definitely be returning for the next one!

- Halala! Rally to Read Halala! – Blessing, Grade 4, Mpunzama Primary School