14 March 2008 RALLY TO READ Empowering our children By David Furlonger

There's good and bad news for the thousands of rural schools dotted around SA. The good news is that many of them will be unaffected by the rolling power cuts planned by Eskom over the next few years. The bad news, of course, is that the reason they won't be affected is that they don't have electricity. Many of the day-to-day issues that dominate urban education have no meaning for children in a single-roomed KwaZulu Natal mountain school or a dusty North West village where classroom temperatures can soar to over 50°C in midsummer. National and provincial education officials can talk all they like about outcomes-based education, the need for more equal sports facilities, and their plans to drag SA from the bottom of the international schools league for maths and science. All this is meaningless to children in schools where there are no textbooks, pens or paper, where a single desk may be shared by six or more children, and where there's often no electricity or running water. These are state schools which should, in theory, offer the same level of education as those in SA's towns and cities. In reality, given their relative inaccessibility, this is not practical. Even so, it is inexcusable that thousands of rural schools should be denied even the most basic educational facilities. As a result, potentially millions of SA children who should be contributing to the country's future are threatened instead with illiteracy and poverty. That's why Rally to Read is so important. Through the provision of educational materials, including portable classroom libraries and science kits, as well as teacher training and management training for principals, it has given more than 100 000 rural children the opportunity to change their lives since 1998. Sponsors of Rally to Read - a joint venture between the FM, the McCarthy motor retail group and the Read Educational Trust - see at first hand how the programme works. It costs R20 000 to become a full sponsor in 2008. All of that money goes directly to the schools. At no extra cost, sponsors - and up to three guests, who may include children - are invited to join us in person to deliver the goods and training their money is buying. Over five weekends in May and June, we will take convoys of offroad vehicles to visit 150 schools during 10 rallies in eight provinces. Most rallies last from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon, but on two of them, Northern Cape and Limpopo, the convoys will leave on Friday afternoon in order to reach the rally starting points. After loading up with libraries and other materials before dawn on Saturday, convoys split up into smaller groups, each of which visit two or three schools. Everyone meets up again that evening to stay in local accommodation, which can range from a hotel or lodge to a tented camp. All food and accommodation costs are met by the rally organisers. The 2008 rally dates are: May 10-11: KwaZulu Natal North (Mkuze Game Reserve area); Free State (Reitz/Bethlehem/Golden Gate). May 16-18: Limpopo (southern Soutpansberg/Magoebaskloof). May 17-18: Eastern Cape (Transkei). May 24-25: KwaZulu Natal South (Swartberg/Harding); Mpumalanga (Amsterdam/Badplaas/Swazi border). May 31-June 1: Mpumalanga (Chrissiesmeer/Badplaas). May 30-June 1: Northern Cape (Kuruman area). June 7-8: Western Cape (Laingsburg /Prince Albert); North West (Zeerust/Madikwe). For more information, contact Rally co-ordinator Iris Francis at (031) 268-9285/98 or 079-528-6766; fax (086) 673-4470; e-mail rally@mccarthy.co.za.