Igniting Imagination Through Literacy
Our literacy program has been diversely impactful across Africa during the first two quarters of 2025, with a reach of over 5,560 learners. Across Johannesburg, Pumeza Macingwane, our passionate Training & Literacy Director, brought stories to life, through 19 literacy activities engaging with parents and children from schools and day care centres within the local community, using STEPi’s artistic learning resources. These schools include Winnie Mandela Creche, Ebukhosini Day Care Centre, Little Jerusalem Day Care Centre, Goza Primary School, and Windybrow Arts Centre, to name a few.
During her visit to Windybrow Arts Centre, Pumeza engaged with young learners from the centre’s Literacy and Homework Support Programme with the books “Do You Like Grasshoppers and Chapati?” and “Androa’s New Home”. The programme aims to boost children’s reading comprehension skills, while developing a strong love for reading.
Pumeza’s reading has inspired many children, parents and teachers in ECDs to integrate storytelling sessions using STEPi books, creating a sustainable culture of reading and learning. Isiqalo Esihle and New Life Day Care Centre are two examples of the schools that have adopted this positive change.
STEPi books are not just tools for learning literacy, but tools for teaching children important life skills as well. STEPi books achieve this by using vivid illustrations and adventure stories to convey these lessons in a way that is fun, and easy to understand. Students from Dawn Park Primary School and Royal Kid Academy who were visited by Pumeza, shared the following reviews:
“My favourite character was the happy girl, because she is happy. I liked that the girl tried to make the boy happy. In this story I learned it’s important to be happy and to help someone else be happy like me.”
-Mandy, age 13
“I liked the book called A Boy Named Justice, because it improved my reading skills, it also made me understand that I have to be just to one another and learn to share what I have with my friends and also respect one another.”
-David Mugisa, P.7
“Amani the Boda-boda Rider made me learn that girls also can do anything like riding boda-boda, not only men. I have also learnt to read properly”.
-Taira, a P.4
“The book Congazori made me learn how to conserve the environment and also how to be responsible.”
-Ofoirwoth Anderson, P.5
By providing schools with support through our ongoing literacy engagements, and resources in the form of STEPi books like “A Boy Named Justice”, we hope to continue to inspire and encourage a love of reading in the next generation. Literacy skills and knowledge provide learners with the strong foundation needed to be able to excel in the classroom, and in life.
