OUR HISTORY
The Caterpillar Book project was established in January 2017 by 5college students Raashid, Zainap, Samantha, Priyanka, and Raees. We becameaware of how dire the need was for children in underprivileged areas of CapeTown to have books to call their own.
OUR GOAL
To get as many educational books as possible into the hands of the Cape Town underserved children. We collect books through book drives,individual donations, publisher overstocks and corporate donors. We also go out to purchase books specifically designed to education and strengthen children’s reading
OUR IMPACT
Books need to be a consistent part of a child’s environment. The ability to read, and to read well, has a direct correlation to future life successes. Recent studies show that in middle-income areas within Cape Town the ratio of books per child is 13 to 1, but, in low-income areas within Cape Town, the ratio is 1 age-appropriate book for every 300 children.*
Learning to read and exposure to books at a young age is critical to the development of literacy skills. Early experiences with books and stories are critically linked to a child’s success in learning to read.
One study found that having as few as 20 books in the home still has a significant impact on propelling a child to a higher level of education, and the more books added, the greater the benefit. Development of literacy is a continuous process that ideally begins early in life and depends heavily on environmental influences.
We appeal to donors to financially donate towards purchased new kids books or to purchase books at any book shop and to drop it off with us.
If we are to reach our tipping point of R23 500, we will be able to purchase more than 500 books. In addition we estimate to receive 300 books via our drop off book drive which gives us the ability to help and complete 2 primary schools.
But if we able to our dream goal of R42 000, we will be able to purchase 900 books. In addition we estimate to receive 300 books via our drop off book drive which gives us the ability to help and complete 3 primary schools.
We are 5 college students who have been granted scholarships to complete our tertiary education, without these scholarships we would not have had the chance to go to college. We will be completing our Bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration in 2018 and before we do we have the desire to pay it forward to our communities. People from other communities help us financially to get to the stage we are today and unfortunately we still students and are unable to do the same but we can use our skills to help children to become literate.