860 million adults are illiterate worldwide. 500 million are women. And in South Africa, according to the National Union of Mineworkers as quoted in The Star in September, millions of South Africans are still using their thumbs as signatures. But while communities highlight this issue only once a year with International Literacy Day, the Write Foundation, an initiative of The Write Co, is committing itself to the basic right of every South African to have the ability be to read, to write and to communicate electronically.  Susan Greenhalgh, Managing Director of The Write Co says, “The Write Foundation, a proudly South African trust, believes we can change this statistic. We will change it. We are debilitated without words, how can this country possibly go forward with this level of illiteracy?” Smuts Ngonyama, Head of Presidency, emphasised how important it is to build awareness of literacy in order to empower mankind with the power of words. He expressed his regret that in 2007, International Literacy Day came at a time when it could not take centre stage.  “It is about time that as a nation, especially in terms of South Africa, we should make this day one of our most important. We all failed the illiterate people of South Africa,” he says. “Literacy can change society and build nations. As South Africans we should seize this opportunity to redouble our efforts to promote literacy among all our people,” says Steyn Speed, Communications Co-ordinator, ANC. George Boinamo, MP of the Democratic Alliance says, “the government has seen fit to take on the full responsibility for literacy programmes itself, and has ignored and denied funding to the many excellent programmes that were running prior to 1994.” The government claims that this is not true. In fact they would welcome the private sectors involvement. The Write Foundation has already identified this problem. The Foundation has found that South Africa’s top companies are weary of sponsoring literacy projects. This is because they fear being labelled as though looking for government favours.  The Write Co will promote a positive future for every adult and child in South Africa through the management of The Power of One Campaign, to be launched shortly. “One word, one thought, one idea, one individual can make a difference,” says Amanda Patterson, CEO of The Write Co. “If you can read, you can cross continents, universes and unleash your dreams.”  

The foundation’s intention is to fund programmes that promote communications training. They will also facilitate corporate funding of literacy and life skills programmes in urban and rural areas.

For more details on the project, contact Logogog on info@logogog.com.

There are a lot of words out there. How do we know when we’ve chosen the right one? I am an addicted reader. When I find a really beautiful passage, I underline it. But even then, words, beautiful words, float past like butterflies. My job is to keep a net handy. I have notebooks of words, scraps of paper in my handbag and scribblings in journals, written over many years. If my house burnt down, after my family, I would rescue my writing. I like to make other people’s writing great too. Sometimes it is a lot easier to edit someone else’s work than your own. You see the cracks, fill them in, smooth out uneven surfaces. There is something entirely satisfying about this sort of work.

It is often only when I speak to other writers that they can truly understand my passion. Why do I write? I write because I have to. This is when I am most myself, most content. As I continue this blog, I hope other people will share their favourite words and expressions, tell me about a book that changed their life. Maybe they’ll even ask how Logogog can help them. Logogog is founded on a love affair with words. And that’s how I’d like to start this blog.