“Children whose earliest years are blighted by hunger or disease or whose minds are not stimulated by appropriate interaction with adults and their environment pay for these early deficits throughout their lives – and so does society. Such children are far more likely than their more fortunate peers to do poorly in school, to drop out early, to be functionally illiterate, and to be only marginally employable in today’s increasingly high-technology world. Collectively, these children who have been deprived in early life therefore affect labour productivity and national economic prosperity.”Armeane M. Choksi World Bank

We at Biblionef believe that providing a child with the appropriate mental stimulation in the first 2 years of his/ her life is imperative to the psycho-social and cognitive development of that child. Therefore we always look forward to projects where we can help equip ECD (Early Childhood Development) Practitioners to provide the best possible support for children’s early childhood development.

With the help of our Funder, the Jim Joel Fund, we have been able to support Sikhula Sonke (Training) Centre with a donation of 10 book bags. Each book bag contains 50 new isiXhosa storybooks as well as 10 educational resources (puzzles, toys and posters). These book bags will be used for their FCM (Family and Community Motivator) Programme. FCM Programmes allow trained facilitators to visit families that have very young children and make use of books and toys to develop their all-round development which includes their reading and motor skills.

Sikhula Sonke’s FCM Programme consists of 20 facilitators who works in four areas in and around Khayelitsha, namely; Ehkanini, Site B, Site C and Drift Sands. Through this FCM Programme, the facilitators reach  approximately 200 families and 239 children! That is 239 children who are now being given the opportunity of reading storybooks in their mother tongue and who have access to toys to encourage their learning through play!

Also with this project, 10 ECD Centre’s in Harare, Khayelitsha received 10 roller boxes each containing 50 new storybooks in the children’s home language of isiXhosa. The 10 ECD Centre’s supported are affiliated to Sikhula Sonke. The storybooks will be used by the ECD Practitioners primarily for storytelling and shared reading. Storytelling and shared reading is imperative in a child’s development because it provides rich opportunities for children to discover the pleasures of reading.

This is only the first part of a three part donation. In the upcoming months, we will be donating storybooks and educational resources to Ikhulubone Trust and Khanimamba Training and Resource Centre and we cannot wait to share the results with you.