BUCKET BOYS
Well before dawn…
Prior to the sun
Blessing the darkness with light…
Two brothers
Prepare for their daily journey…
After their morning porridge…
They bid farewell to their mother
Who sends them off with kisses
Filled with pride and love
AS the individually give
An appreciative nod
To the father
Who has excused them
From their normal
Saturday chores
By the door
Is a “bucket of purpose”
Bearing their names…
An hour into their travels
They approached the river’s edge
Then begin to disrobe
As they do each morning
At this juncture…
They carefully fold
The school uniforms
Obtained at great sacrifice!
Yet considered an investment
By their parents…
Their prized attire
Placed neatly in the bucket…
Safe and secure
In the pail…
Then carefully balanced
As they “make a game”
Of jumping from rock to rock
Which eventually subsides…
For they soon
Must wade waist deep
In the water
Before reaching the other side…
Five additional kilometers
Do not weary
Their exited feet!
On today “outsiders”
Fellow South Africans (!)
Have come from nearby provinces
Their vehicles adorned with banners
That make their mission
Very clear
“Rally to Read”!
HOPE is the theme
For the occasion…
For the givers
And receivers alike!
All are blessed on this day!
Especially the “bucket boys”…
Who return home
With their pails filled…
And their hearts and minds
Encouraged!
“Bucket Boys”
Today…
Leaders of the motherland…
Tomorrow!
What a most wonderful day
It has been!
Eager minds now freed
From the restrictions
Of not “having”…
Giving all of Africa
A brighter future!
- An extract from a poem by Steven Butler - 2010 Rally to Read participant
Last week I participated in a conference between the Rally to Read Partners, McCarthy Ltd, The Financial Mail, and READ Educational Trust to do some forward planning for this annual event. At the end I received this framed poem with a "thank you" message to Reading Matters for its participation in the 2010 event where we touched the lives of 43 220 learners and 1 418 teachers at 135 schools in deep rural South Africa
It’s amazing to have been part of this project which has grown since 1998 from a small initiative with 40 vehicles to 12 rural schools in KwaZulu Natal to 10 provincial Rally events with 500 vehicles in 2010. An 11th Rally is planned for 2011 to reach deeper into the far flung rural schools in the Northern Cape.
This project is very special and it was apparent during the conference that the Rally has become much more than corporate responsibility only and that it has grown larger than the sum of the whole. It has touched so many lives and hopefully has been a catalyst of change for many disadvantaged rural children.
It still only touches the tip of the iceberg as there is an unimaginably large pool of poverty and need where children are still being deprived of the basic human right of functional literacy. Rally to Read is a successful education model how a partnership between the corporate world, an NGO and government can effectively address illiteracy on a small scale.
For me the dream goes a lot further. It’s is really to fan the flame of this small spark and empower these teachers and kids to grow beyond the limits of the hand-outs and largesse of aid organisations - the ability to take ownership of their destinies.
Then there is also the small matter of the urban jungle. The Rally is a proven rural model but what about the disadvantaged kids of the urban slums, the townships and the inner city? Their situation, in many instances, is even worse than that of rural children where extended families still in some way provide a loving and caring support system. The street children, the orphans are being left behind - one finds them on every street corner, in rags, high on glue to escape their harsh circumstances.
The starfish principle only goes up to a point before even that only represents a very small light in a very big sea of wasted lives.
I so wish I had more answers to these issues on this Sunday night.