British primary school children donated 1,300 boxes of books in 2018 for Hortgro’s Help a South African School charity.
The campaign sees thousands of books collected and shipped to South Africa every year, with a focus on providing access to learning resources for all early childhood development years.
The initiative is run by South African fruit growers' industry body, Hortgro. Jacques du Preez, general manager trade & markets, of Hortgro said: “We received a record number of books last year, which have so far been distributed to 13 schools who are in desperate need of resources – only 7 per cent of our schools have libraries.
“We are very grateful to all the UK schools who donate each year and to MyHermes, Maersk and GoGlobal who kindly offer their courier and shipping services free of charge.”
A competition for UK primary schools also coincides with the collection, with schools invited to submit an assembly script based on the theme “Doing good with South African Fruit”.
This year’s winners were St Mary’s Horsforth in Leeds. According to Hortgro, the Year 2’s script showed they had extensively researched South African fruit farming, the fruit’s journey from the tree to our kitchens, and how the country’s climate impacts the quality of their fruit.
St Mary’s even went beyond the competition requirements and made South African fruit flapjacks and kebabs, which they sold in the playground to raise money for the South African Sock Appeal.
The Frist price was to spend on school resources, as well as a “Gastronaut Live’ show by BBC presenter Stefan Gates. The 2020 competition will launch in march next year, with information at http://helpasouthafricanschool.co.uk/competition/
