Cape Town, July 2009:

The team at Atmosphere is serious when it comes delivering on our PR promises to clients. But Atmospherians are also very committed to making a difference in an area which we are all passionate about - that of the magic of the spoken and written word, which off course, is the basis of any good PR campaign.

And although literacy is the basic building block of knowledge, millions of little learners throughout our country are not being given the opportunity to develop this much required skill. Classrooms are overcrowded and teaching staff are in short supply. Learners who can’t keep up with the teaching pace fall behind, and then each year struggle to progress to the next grade.

The outlook is pretty bleak, but then we met the passionate team at The Shine Centre, a volunteer-based NGO which focuses on literacy training at underprivileged schools.

We were so inspired by their results-driven approach – this is also in our DNA! – that we promptly decided to partner with the Shine team. So not only have we taken on The Shine Centre as a pro-bono PR client, but some of our Atmospherians immediately jumped on board and have become volunteer trainers. Every Tuesday morning, they give an hour of their time to focus on a specific learner at Zonnebloem Primary School in Cape Town.

Our office manager, Heidi Jackson was slightly emotional after her first few Shine sessions, “This is one of the most gratifying things that I have ever attempted in my life! To see the excitement on Asanele’s face when he learnt to read a full sentence and understood what it meant, was heart-warming. I can see how he progresses and both Asanele and myself can hardly wait for our Tuesday morning sessions – each time Asanele is there, hungry to learn and grow.”

Account manager Marissa Visagie added,” The Shine team trained us and in our carefully structured lessons we read, play word games, articulate sounds and then focus on the correct pronunciations. My learner, Takudzwa is so enthusiastic and his smile lights up the whole room. It’s really rewarding for us both and we’ve built a really strong bond – I can’t wait for Takudzwa to read his first Harry Potter one day!”

Kathryn Torres, director of Shine believes learning to read opens a whole new world. “Our aim at The Shine Centre is to help teach children to read and to inspire them to dream so as to reach their full potential. We want our Shine children to recognise and appreciate the power, the beauty and the magnitude of words and show them that words really can change worlds.”

If you want to make a difference with assisting grade R and grade 1 learners learn about the power of words, either through a monetary contribution or as a potential volunteer, visit The Shine Centres’ website on www.theshinecentre.org.za

Go on, do one good deed for today!