When four-year-old Mthunzi (not her real name) sits on the carpet for story time at her Cotlands playgroup, she’s whisked off to a magical world. There is no one that can read a story book quite like her playgroup leader can! She makes funny voices and has an interesting facial expression . . . and Mthunzi’s transported to a world of her imagination.

Only two out of ten children hear stories at home. That’s why today we’re hoping you’ll help Cotlands give more children access to books, by clicking here to make your donation to help us buy more books!

Mthunzi lives with her granny in an informal settlement in Soweto. Her mother lives and works out of town and makes a lot of sacrifices to ensure Mthunzi is well cared for and has a healthy diet of pap and vegetables.

Try as she might, though, her salary doesn’t stretch far enough to buy books. But thanks to Cotlands partners like you, Mthunzi can enter the magical world of stories at her Cotlands playgroup.

And your gift, made securely online by clicking here, will open this magical world to more children.

We’ll use your gift to also buy books and toys for our Cotlands mobile toy libraries. These vehicles follow a set route each week; lending early learning material to ECD centres, playgroups and parents in remote and poor areas.

We try to add new books and swop old books as often as possible; so that there are always fresh and exciting stories for children to read and listen to. Story time is Mthunzi’s favourite activity at playgroup. She walks to playgroup with her granny twice a week, come rain or shine. Sometimes she arrives with wet feet, from jumping in puddles; and sometimes she arrives with sore feet, from skipping all the way. But no matter the weather, Mthunzi never misses playgroup.

We’re sure you’ll agree with us when we say that we should be doing everything in our power to improve literacy levels among South African children.

Storytelling’s one of the simplest and most effective ways to stimulate language development and to motivate children to improve their reading and writing. By putting new books in our libraries, your gift will foster this love for reading. Thank you!