Page 75 - SAPREF 50 year

Thamsanqa Majola and Nobuhle Mbooi in a science laboratory donated by SAPREF to Zwelethu High School in Umlazi. The lab will cater for nine schools in the area.
to internal stakeholders and a select few of SAPREF’s external stakeholders, the refinery opted to include as much of KZN as possible in the celebrations. Thus was born SAPREF’s 50th Anniversary Legacy Project.
Says Robin Mooldijk, Managing Director: “We wanted our 50th anniversary celebrations to impact the wider KZN province, and doing this via investments in schools was in line with our broader social investment programme.”
The mainly rural schools are spread across the KZN province — from Ingwavuma to Ixopo and all districts in-between. Many of them have never had a proper library. The schools were identified in consultation with the KZN Department of Education, taking into account the department’s infrastructure planning and their knowledge of schools and the various districts. In the end, at least three schools in each of KZN’s 12 districts received a library.
The libraries are objects of beauty — and a source of fun, reading and literacy. Each mobile unit is packed with 800 books, a flat screen
TV, a DVD player and 30 educational DVDs. In total therefore, SAPREF put 40 000 books into the hands of children and 50 flat screen TVs, 50 DVD players and 1500 educational DVDs into KZN classrooms.
Each book is covered in thick plastic to protect it from the eagerness of young hands. In each of the schools at least one teacher will be trained to manage the library and to ensure the books are properly cared for, and that the administration that goes with the borrowing
of books in a library is taken care of. Learners will be encouraged to take books home so
that the love of the written word also spreads to families. In the process it is hoped that, particularly in the rural areas, the dynamic of parents reading to their children will be turned on its head by children reading to their parents.
Says Lindiwe Khuzwayo, Human Resources Manager: “In implementing the project we hoped to strengthen a love of books and of reading, because a love of reading is the foundation of all learning.”
Science laboratories
One of SAPREF’s flagship social investment programmes is the establishment of science labs in neighbouring high schools. SAPREF saw, and still sees education as one of the best ways of making a lasting contribution to communities.
The programme was started in 2004 and nine years later 12 fully equipped science labs have been established at high schools across South Durban. The project includes the conversion of a classroom into a modern, state-of-the-art science lab complete with equipment, chemicals and several computers.
Venu Naidoo, Principal of Isipingo Secondary School, says the lab at his school has created new opportunities for the learners and educators to extend their learning and teaching in science and technology. “Learners are now able to work in a laboratory, which inspires them to become confident young scientists,” he concludes.
COMMEMORATING 50 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE
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