The Impilo Collection Foundation concluded its #EmpowerThem and #ReadingBuddies projects for the year at Takane Academy in Bloubosrand on September 9.
Joined by the South Africa College of Applied Psychology (SACAP) they distributed books and uniforms on September 8, International Literacy Day.
Impilo Collection Foundation vice president of public relations Ntokozo Khumalo says, “The reason for us to do the uniform drive was to observe International Literacy Day while showing how literacy and a child learning to love learning is more than just about books.”
Khumalo says in some communities similar to Bloubosrand, children owning uniforms creates a sense of belonging.
Chairperson of the Johannesburg SACAP branch Joel Peter said they had come to support Impilo and this initiative by reading to the learners.
“From our side, we see the social need, we see the mental health need and we are trying to support both Impilo and the school as best as we can,” says Peter.
Principal of Takane Academy, Caroline Ngwenya says the school has been around for 15 years.
“We started in this building where my family and I lived and as more children in the area came to us for help, my family and I would use half of the house to help children with learning problems. I started with my daughter, who is now 21 years old, because I couldn’t afford to take her to school, so I would wake up early in the morning, and cook some pap to sell on Witkoppen,” says Ngwenya.
Her devotion to helping children started after many children in the area could not afford to attend school. Her encounter with one child who was dismissed from school after they discovered the child had a learning problem and weren’t able to help her.
“So what I did with her and my daughter was do a lot of art. My background, apart from teaching, is visual art. I would use my art background to break the ice to see where the learning problems were through illustrations and paintings while somehow filtering in the basics of learning and reading, and it worked well.”
Ngwenya shared that through word of mouth, her home turned into a safe place for children of all ages in the community that wanted to learn.
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