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C O R P O R AT E S O C I A L I N V E S T M E N T
>>>Konica Minolta South Africa (KMSA)
has converted a light commercial vehicle
into a mobile library, providing
children who do not have access to
books in their schools and communities,
with the opportunity to improve their
literacy skills – a necessary tool to
function in society, find a good job and
nourish problem solving as well
as the imagination.
26 the hub 01/2013
Konica Minolta South Africa’s mobile library
brings literacy to rural schools
The fully kitted-out Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, purchased by
Konica Minolta South Africa from McCarthy Kunene in
Witbank, has been entrusted to The Edu-Care
Foundation, a non-profit organisation that through its R.E.A.D.
(Respect, Education, Attitude and Discipline) initiative assists
children in the foundation phase to improve their reading ability.
According to project initiator Laetitia Coetzer, special projects
manager at Konica Minolta South Africa, the mobile library is
the first of its kind and will service the Gauteng area, ranging
from the West Rand to the East Rand and even a school in
Hammanskraal. She adds that it will also function as a study
centre at certain rural area schools where there are no study
facilities.
Although projects such as the Mandela Day Library have set
up libraries using converted shipping containers at various
schools, the mobile library extends that work and adds a
unique element in that it can service up to 20 schools a month.
As a Bidvest Group company, KMSA has encouraged other
organisations within the group to take part in the project. For
this reason, Kolok sponsored the consumables for the printer
in the mobile library, Bid Financial Services has insured the
vehicle and Bidtrack will provide vehicle tracking, recovery and
fleet management services.
KMSA has also donated a sum of money to buy books and a
laptop to be used as a research facility for subjects such as
history, science and geography. With the help of one of its
suppliers it has also created cheerful artwork on the body of
the vehicle.
Achmat Dangor, chief executive of the Nelson Mandela
Foundation and champion of Mandela Day was present at the
recent handover. He praised the project as an initiative that,
through innovation, has created a solution to South Africa’s
current literacy problem. We believe there is always a remedy
and that businesses, government and civil society should focus
on solutions and not problems, something KMSA has done so
well.