For National Book Week 2020, Novus Holdings celebrated our love of books by urging everyone to donate their books for someone else to enjoy, and we encouraged all of our employees to participate in this challenge with us.
Through the collected effort of all of our employees we collected 118 books, which was donated to the Elim Night Shelter in Elsies River, Cape Town. Elim Night Shelter caters to the homeless and destitute and was officially opened on the 02 September 1997. Elim proudly takes individuals through a process of rehabilitation with the ultimate aim of true and lasting re-integration of its residents into society. Today, Elim offers both in-house and out-house programmes aimed at rehabilitation and re-integration.
In addition, for the 118 book we collected, Novus Holdings is going to match this, and donate as many age-appropriate books to the New Africa Education Foundation (NAEF), who will use these books to ensure that a school library is appropriately filled. The school that NAEF have selected to support is Spearman Road Primary is based in Sydenham, Durban.
Spearman Road Primary has a dedicated staff of 36 educators, who are lead principal, Miss Z.A. Nzama and currently has 1062 learners enrolled at the school. Majority of the learners, 95 % to be exact, are from outlying areas, such as Umlazi, Chesterville and Marianhill. Learners who are from the Children’s Homes in the community and those from the informal settlements in our area, also make up a portion of our leaners.
Due to the high number of learners who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, the school runs a fully-fledged feeding scheme and welcomes all donations that will help improve the learners nutrition and education.
Spearman Road Primary also depends on the Department of Education for most of their resources, as school fees cover only the basic cost of running the school. Last year, over 55 percent of parents applied for exemption of fees, thus making the challenge of running the school even more difficult.
| National Book Week is an annual initiative by the South African Book Development Council in collaboration with the Department of Arts and Culture. National Book Week aims to encourage the nation to develop a love for reading and to demonstrate how easily reading can be added into our daily lives. |
About Novus Holdings CSI initiative – Future Foundations.
At Novus Holdings, we are actively committed to making a sustainable difference in the communities in which we operate.
Future Foundations, established in 2014, is the umbrella under which all our socio-economic development (SED) and corporate social investment (CSI) projects are covered. Firmly rooted in the belief that education is a key mechanism for upliftment, Future Foundation focuses its efforts on learners and learning institutions, ensuring that beneficiaries are provided with the right tools to empower themselves so they can go on and teach others.
By providing the right type of support and empowering beneficiaries, we believe that the Future Foundations programme can help them grow independently rather than being forever reliant on donor support. Our support of beneficiaries will make a difference by enhancing education, developing skills and engaging with the communities in which we operate.
