Leading physical asset management company, Pragma, will support the Walmer Angel Literacy and Play Centre, which is based at Walmer Lower Primary School in Walmer Township, Port Elizabeth.
The Centre, which accommodates 191 disadvantaged learners from surrounding communities, will use a container as a library to drive a literacy programme introducing English reading to youngsters in the township. Pragma contributed R10 000 towards paving. Other companies have also contributed to the building of the roof and the changes to the container, including the installation of windows and doors.
Kay Roberts, Asset Care Scheduler at Pragma says that Pragma has made a commitment to get involved in CSI projects nationally. Due to our previous involvement with the Walmer Angels project through Glenda Brunette and Marcelle Brock, we became aware of the urgent need to facilitate reading lessons at such a young stage in a child’s life to positively impact on further education.
According to Roberts, children in the programme all benefit and the feedback received from both teachers and learners have been very positive. “The Literacy Container allows for more space for lessons to take place and reach more children in the area. The aim is to keep recruiting and training more volunteers to assist in the lessons, which will benefit more children.”
The Literacy Programme has been in full operation since March 2014 and they are now waiting for the completion of the conversions of the Literacy Container. “Once this is achieved, the Literacy Programme will be able to grow and assist more disadvantaged children,” adds Roberts.
Pragma has been involved with the Walmer Angels on previous occasions including grocery packs for Mandela Day in 2013, as well treating the children in one of the crèches with Christmas shoebox hampers at the end of last year.
Roberts says that they also supported a disadvantaged school, Adolph Schauder Primary School, in December 2012 by repainting their black boards. Pragma further received a donation of colour-in books from Pearson, which were distributed to the Walmer Angel project along with 2 other disadvantaged schools in the Port Elizabeth area – Helenvale Primary School and De Vos Malan Primary School. This year, we supported One Day Without Shoes 2014, an initiative driven by the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, by donating slippers for the elderly. And in 2015 Pragma’s PE Office plans to do a long-term CSI investment project, focusing on education in mainly Mathematics and Science.
“This week, we’ll be in the Walmer Township for Mandela Day 2014, devoting our 67 minutes to a crèche in the area. It’s heartwarming for us to be involved in a community that needs so much,” she concludes.
For further information on the project or how to get involved, please contact Kay Roberts on kay.roberts@pragmaworld.net.
