School receives 26,000 books

The library of the Mission School of Sao Jose de Lhanguene in Maputo is to get 26,000 books ranging from academic to fiction and general literature, with the emphasis on children and youth, as well as school furniture.The donation comes from Namaacha Water Company as part of its social responsibility campaign, and coincides with the library reopening after a programme of rehabilitation and expansion.The mineral water production and marketing company’s support is co-sponsored by the citizens of the Alcobaça municipality in Portugal, inspired by a desire to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Mozambique.

The new library will serve not only the students and teachers at the school, but the 100,000-strong community in the area.A similar programme is to be rolled out at the School of Arts and Crafts in Moamba, Maputo province, and at the Inharrime Technical School in Inhambane, where books and furniture will also be provided. Each one of these institutions will receive 8,000 books, and will eventually serve approximately 300,000 people combined.At a ceremony to mark the occasion, the head of the Sao Jose de Lhanguene Mission, Father Leal, said the support of Namaacha Water demonstrated a sense of social responsibility, love for others and a willingness to help the most needy in a vital developmental sector.Father Leal also considered this action one of great dignity, and one of the finest undertaken by any company helping to build new generations of Mozambicans. It was, he said, an example fit to be followed by any Portuguese company.Father Leal highlighted the contribution of the city and citizens of Alcobaça to the realization of this project, and thanked them for their magnanimous gesture.In reply, Águas de Moçambique’s Manuela Magaia said the donation aligned with a strategy being pursued by the company for a number of years, and paralleled similar initiatives aimed at encouraging people and communities to share what they have with those who have less.For Magaia, this was gesture ideally suited to, and of paramount importance for, education, particularly in support of literacy projects.“To contribute to raising the awareness of people, to contribute to raising the country’s level of development; this is our greatest desire,” Manuela said.