A Manenberg woman’s efforts to uplift the children in her community were given a major boost when international backers funded premises for her literacy programme.
Mary V Harding started the programme three years ago with three pencils, five books and five children. Now she has more than 60 children (from Grade 1 to Grade 7) registered on her programme.
On Sunday January 15, her organisation, Read and Read to Lead, officially opened its premises in Scheldt Road, Manenberg.
Previously, Ms Harding held classes in the backyard of her Flora Court council flat. The new premises has two classrooms that can each accommodate up to 30 children.
Apart from the classrooms, the cost of preparing the 4 000m² site, the fencing and a solar system, cost the funders about R1.2 million.
Ms Harding was a community health worker before, and because of her work as a home-based carer, among others, she knows the streets and households of Manenberg very well. It was after her husband’s death, though, that she decided to shift her focus to teaching children in her community to read and write.
“My husband was a very good mechanic, but he could not read or write. His colleagues, and even his boss, had to read job cards to him. He could do the work, but he could not read. Thinking about this encouraged me to start a literacy programme. I realised that many children are pushed through the system, and they pass up until high school, when it is discovered they cannot read or write. Shortly after my husband’s death, his former boss asked me to fetch something for my family from her. I told her about the literacy project and showed her the pamphlet someone had made for me,” Ms Harding said.
This interaction led to Ms Harding being introduced to Thomas Fast, the chairperson of a German-based non-profit organisation, Volksbank Brawo Stiftung. He, in turn, met Jochen Böhnke from another organisation, Help in Time (HIT).
Said Mr Böhnke: “Thomas introduced us to Mary. Our organisation spends six months in South Africa, doing all kinds of activities. We started out in Germany to help poor children with education and holiday programmes. We recognise that there is so much more to do here (in South Africa). Initially, we were looking for German parents to ‘adopt’ a child here and pay for their school fees and other educational needs. Since meeting Mary, we have been working on this project for almost three years, putting all the processes in place, applied for funding, and now we are looking at continuing our long-term relationship with Read and Read to Lead.”
Among the guest speakers at the event was Dr Randall Ortel, who is also from Manenberg.
“I am not shy to say I am from Manenberg. I like this initiative very much, and hence I would like to implement a health screening here. What is the use a child that can read and write, but the child is unhealthy? I would really like the community to support this venture by taking ownership of this facility,” Dr Ortel said.
Another speaker, Anthea Bailey, said reading had helped her out of the poor economic circumstances she found herself in, growing up in Manenberg.
“My grandmother took us to the library regularly, and from there, my love for reading grew. Reading is so important. Apart from it igniting our creativity, increasing our general knowledge, boosting our self-confidence, it also helped me get out of poverty. Today I have two degrees, I work in the financial sector and I am studying towards my third degree. Einstein said logic can take you from A to Z, but imagination can take you everywhere,” Ms Bailey said.
