Anne Holmes went on an unusual trip to get books to deprived rural schools in KwaZulu- Natal
Red mud churned madly on a remote hillside in KwaZulu-Natal. Men shouted instructions at each other, and passing schoolgirls shrieked and giggled at the unusual spectacle.
It was certainly not your typical rural scenario. A dilapidated minibus bogged deep in mud had been attached by brand new tow- rope to a state-of-the-art, out-of-the-box 4×4, whose bearded white driver revved manfully while a crowd of his companions laid their shoulders to the minibus’s flanks. The steep road was lined with 4x4s of every make.
Pam Richardson, social responsibility manager for McCarthy Motor Holdings, had spent more than a year organising for these 28 rally teams to be in this remote corner of Nkandla district on this particular Saturday, to deliver “box libraries” to 13 badly under-resourced schools – the first Rally to Read.
Early that morning, as the 80-odd rally participants breakfasted at the George Hotel in Eshowe, Richardson had explained the background to the event.
In 1997, the Human Sciences Research Council approached McCarthy for assistance. The HSRC had covered 31 980 of the country’s 32 000 schools for a database it was compiling. The last 20 or so were inaccessible except by four-wheel-drive. Richardson’s department provided transport to reach these last, remote schools – and the seed of an idea was sown.
A few months later, Richardson had raised R150 000 to buy books for these same schools. She asked the Read literacy organisation to help with book selection, and was surprised by regional director Jill Thomlinson’s reaction.
“Actually, I was quite hurt,” Richardson remembered, laughing. “I mean, R150 000 isn’t nothing!” Thomlinson had explained that dropping off a load of books would have limited effect in schools that needed teacher upgrading in reading, care of books and setting up libraries. Together, Read and McCarthy planned a more comprehensive project. The rally would be a first step, followed by training for teachers at the 13 schools, with a vehicle to get a Read teacher around the area for the six months.
That morning, the George Hotel parking lot reflected the project partners: private enterprise (primarily McCarthy and the Sugar Association), non-governmental organisations (Read and the HSRC), and provincial government’s education department. A fine drizzle fell on executives from petrol companies, food industries and the motor trade, as they hefted the wooden box libraries into the boots of their 4x4s. Then pristine treads rolled – some of them to encounter dirt for the first time.
Each team of about five vehicles had two or three schools to visit, spread over a wide area. Children, teachers and members of school governing bodies assembled at each school. Some waited from 8am until after 2pm. The visitors were welcomed graciously, with seats, songs, words of thanks and welcome, and drinks and food.
Pupils looked on as teachers eagerly examined their new resources: a custom- made, padlockable wooden box, with two shelves of library books on one side, each book laminated, with a stock of library cards, and on the other side, a series of reading schemes – a large class book with five matching individual readers. Read representatives confirmed plans with teachers for sessions the following week.
Despite thorough briefing beforehand, Brand Pretorius, McCarthy’s chief executive, said that “the desperate situation of virtually all the schools in the more remote areas we visited still came as a shock to me. It brought home in a very vivid manner some of the disturbing statistics compiled by the HSRC: 20% of Kwa-Zulu-Natal school buildings described as `very poor’, 31% with no water, 60% no electricity and 60% no telecommunications. The majority of those we visited didn’t even have toilets. And most disturbingly, no books – not even one!”
Yet parents paid school fees in most of the schools, or had built classrooms. The rally team’s briefings spoke of active, motivated school communities, and Richardson explained that this is important to potential sponsors: there must be evidence that schools are organised.
One principal’s address to the visitors noted that teachers and principals must take responsibility for turning education around. Apartheid poisoned it for a long time, and today many teachers fail their students with absenteeism and poor skills. His was a sensible, measured speech.
“The gratitude and joy we witnessed and experienced touched me deeply and humbled me,” wrote Pretorius later, announcing McCarthy’s intention to make the rally a national and annual event. “The rally fuelled my desire and strengthened my resolve to do whatever I can to broaden the impact of this most deserving project.”
As the sun went down, the unlikely partners in the day’s adventure returned to “normal” life. Teachers and pupils walked home over the wet hills. The rally drivers gathered at Shakaland to watch the day’s rugby. And the minibus drivers were able to hurtle round their steep, muddy corner unimpeded by a mysterious invasion of shiny 4×4 picnickers.
Education is a complicated business in the aftermath of apartheid. The Rally to Read can claim a particular achievement, in its effort to enlighten people on both sides of the vast privilege divide.