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Stuff from Johannesburg

Ignition Encourages A Love Of Reading – One Library At A Time

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Ignition Encourages A Love Of Reading – One Library At A Time:

February 2024: Durban, KwaZulu-Natal – “Literacy is a fundamental human right and a pre-requisite for even the most basic employment,” says Samantha Botha, Head of Group Marketing for Ignition Group (Ignition). “With eight out of every 10 children unable to read properly, South Africa’s reading crisis is a reality for many of our young people and creates a stumbling block before they even get off the starting line. This situation was the impetus for Ignition Group to take action.”

In 2022, Ignition together with The LEARN Project, partnered on their first Book Corners and School Library Project at Eskhululiwe Primary School in eNanda. Windy Heights Primary School in Malukazi in Umlazi followed in 2023 where 19 book corners were installed, one for every class in the foundation phase of the school. Last week, Sogidi Primary School in Ozwathini in the Ndwedwe Local Municipality, became the third school to receive book corners and a new library.

The Valentine’s Day event, hosted by the principal Mrs Sithole, and attended by Ignition team members Vicky Koekemoer, Chief Human Resource Officer and Sam Botha, Head of Marketing, as well as a slew of senior Education Department representatives from the Ilembe District, saw the school’s resources receive a significant boost with the donation of 1723 books. These included the installation of a Foundation Phase Book Corner of 300 books (5 book corners with 60 books per book corner), and a ?library book donation of 1423 titles (Fiction and Non Fiction books, early readers, display books, dictionaries, reference books and teacher reference books).

Addressing the audience, Vicky Koekemoer from Ignition said, “Reading can enrich you, empower you and enable your success; but it’s so much more than that. Reading gives us a place to escape to. It allows us to travel all around the world, to make new friends, to live in a different time and place. A place where you can dream and a place that will inspire you with hope and possibility for your future.”

She continued. “Ndwedwe is a very special place for me because one of my colleagues comes from here. I hope that in the future many more people from Ndwedwe and from this school will build their careers with us at Ignition.”

A variety of educational games, puzzles and literacy charts and resources were also bequeathed to Sogidi Primary. In addition, 12 library monitors have been trained and 10 teachers sponsored to attend a LEARN teacher training course, on the use of the library, encouraging them to make the most of the valuable resource in their school.  A teacher librarian has also been trained using The LEARN Project Librarianship course.

To encourage  a culture and love for reading, each Book Corner is equipped with a comfortable carpet to sit on, cushions, an alphabet chart, literacy chart and book corner rules chart, as well as a book shelf. All the books are covered in plastic, accessioned and catalogued according to grade, colour coded with stickers, to assist with the organised placement of the reading matter on the shelves and entered into a Register for accountability purposes.

“At The LEARN Project we aim to inspire hope , instil change and impact lives through the power of books and literacy,” Ros Toerien, The LEARN Project founder says.. “We believe that a reading nation is a leading nation, and that readers make leaders and leaders build nations. It is up to us to equip future generations.”

VIDEO LINK: https://we.tl/t-j8nZR4jAFV

Ignition Group is a global technology company with operations in Africa, the USA and the UK. By leveraging the power of technology, data and people, Ignition is able to provide clients in diverse sectors with exceptional business services. Within the Ignition ecosystem are business units in the telecommunications, customer experience, financial services, banking, ecommerce, platforms and products sectors, all operating with synergy to open up the digital economy to everyone.

ABOUT The Learn Project:  https://www.thelearnproject.co.za/

The LEARN Project is a South African non-profit trust that reaches out to schools and children in need. Our goal is to equip these schools with reading books and to create sustainable libraries and classroom book corners. Our vison is to put a book into the hand of every learner in order to foster a love of reading and learning today, so that they may reach their full potential tomorrow.

l/r – Nokuthula Sibisi, learners Sisabusiswa Mhlungu & Luthando Makhoba, Samantha Groom / Ignition & Ros Toerien / The LEARN Project. Photo: Supplied/ Ignition Group
l/r – Okuhle Gumede, Sisabusiswa Mhlungu, Thabitha Ngema & standing, Asanda Buthelezi

Video: IGNITION ENCOURAGES A LOVE OF READING – ONE LIBRARY AT A TIME

https://we.tl/t-j8nZR4jAFV

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Ponte City: Transformation

As the “white flight” of the 1980s and 90s drained the inner city of capital, Ponte City underwent a dramatic and terrifying transformation. By the late 1990s, the building had become a “vertical slum” and a symbol of urban decay. It was famously “hijacked” by gangs; the retail levels were stripped, and the building became a fortress for drug dealing and human trafficking. The most haunting image from this era was the central core. Originally designed to be a light-filled courtyard, it became a literal trash heap. Residents on the upper floors would throw their refuse into the center of the building rather than taking it down. At its worst point, the trash in the core reached five stories high—a mountain of rotting debris, discarded furniture, and even, legend has it, the remains of those who had fallen or jumped.

During this period, the reputation of Ponte was so toxic that there was a serious proposal in 1998 to turn the entire skyscraper into a vertical prison. The plan was eventually scrapped, but the building remained a “no-go zone” for nearly a decade. The turnaround began in the mid-2000s when developers New Metro Property Group and later Dlala Nje began a massive, painstaking refurbishment. They cleared out the tons of trash from the core, restored the lifts (which had often been out of order, forcing residents to climb 50 flights of stairs), and implemented strict security protocols.