Books For Africa Donates Books to Support Orphans and Vulnerable Children in South Africa
Books For Africa recently supported FHI 360 South Africa’s Capacity Development and Support (CDS) Program by donating a shipment of over 40,000 books. The books were used to establish libraries, play centers and resource centers and to improve school resources for orphans and vulnerable children ages 0-17. FYI 360 South Africa has recently completed a comprehensive report on this distribution!
The CDS program is funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through USAID. The ultimate goal of the CDS program is to contribute to mitigating the impact of HIV, STIs and tuberculosis through technical and organizational capacity strengthening support to the South African government and PEPFAR implementing partners.
The children who will be served by this project and these books come from households at risk or affected by HIV, with over 20% HIV-positive themselves and more than half single or double orphans. As FHI 360 wrote in its report, “education, retention in schools and reading/stimulation remains a crucial aspect of the services provided to these youth. The possibility of providing these youths with easy access to books, libraries and resource centers is amazing and something that is most often taken for granted.”
Some of the ultimate goals of the project are to stimulate children's language development and understanding by enabling caregivers to read to them; boost language, listening and reading skills; reinforce child-caregiver bonds and childrens’ relationship with schools; and provide more resources to complement school work.
Said the manager of Haya Ha fhulufhelo in Ekurhuleni North, upon receiving a donation of books, “I’m so excited at receiving these books. We are going to establish a mini-library at this center and encourage our beneficiaries to read these stories. We might inspire a few of them to become writers or authors. These books will go a long way in opening up the minds of our children in this community.”