Fraser Academy Book Drive

A Note from Margie Kainer, organizer of the book drive

First off, I'd like to send you and the staff at BHS a HUGE thank you for helping to facilitate the book drive for Hanganeni Primary School. Thanks to your support there are now more than 2,000 books on their way to Hangenini. The staff are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the books, and will now be able to expand their tiny little library (currently a janitor's closet).

I am so pleased and proud of the kids at The Fraser Academy who helped collect the books, as well as my friends and family who contributed.

I have attached the photos taken from my camera on the loading day and a couple of photos of the kids at Hanganeni. I have also included a little blurb that I wrote about the kids to share with the participants in the book drive.

Again, thank you so much for including our books in your shipment. The students have learned a lot from this experience and are interested in making this an annual event!

During my stay in Swakopmund as a CIDA intern with Childspeak Namibia, I was fortunate enough to get to know the students at Hanganeni and share a little piece of their lives. Though they struggle with extreme poverty, disease, hunger and the many barriers that exist in their society, they are among the most joyful and warm children I have ever encountered. When Hanganeni was built in 2004, it was the first school in the area that had low school fees. This gave many children in the area who had never attended school their first opportunity to become educated. Sadly, it is still common to find students in Grade 5, 6 and 7 who have little nor no ability to read. Due to a shortage of basic reading materials, it is very difficult for the teachers to teach the kids the skills they need. As Namibia is a very resource rich country with good infrastructure, there is a lot of opportunity for employment for those who are educated. Let's hope that providing access to reading materials for these kids will be the first step in helping them break the cycle of poverty!