A partnership between the South African Post Office and the non-profit organisation, Nal’ibali, enables young children to read in their home language.
The Nal’ibali reading supplements are now available free of charge at 508 SA Post Office branches. A year ago the reading supplements were available at only 46 Post Offices. Katie Huston, acting Managing Director at Nal’ibali, said this increase was made possible by the successful partnership. “Nal’ibali was able to make available 80 000 reading supplements to people that collect them from Post Office outlets, and 400 000 supplements to reading clubs, schools and preschools,” said Huston. “We were able to do this by using the branch network of the Post Office; everybody knows that there is a Post Office in almost every village.” Nal’ibali produces interactive, fun reading material that the children assemble themselves, while the SA Post Office makes the reading material available for collection at its branches at no cost. Research done by Nal’ibali indicates that children, parents and educators enjoy reading the supplements. Parents and educators report that it helps children develop their reading skills and it gives parents and children an opportunity to spend quality time together. The reading supplements are published in South Africa’s 11 official languages. If you are an educator, learner, caregiver or librarian and you are interested in joining the Nal’ibali tribe, please send an email to info@nalibali.org. Your email should include the name and postcode of your local post office, the name of your reading club, school or library and a cellphone number of the school or reading club that can be put on the address label.
