This year, Sony Corporation of Hong Kong invited the HKRU to get involved in the South Africa Mobile Library Project (SAMLP), which collected over 23,000 books and donated to South African children.

The SAMLP aims to help improve the literacy levels of the children in South Africa by providing them easy access to English story books. The books donated for the SAMLP will be delivered to South Africa where they are transported to mobile libraries which visit local schools, providing students and teachers an opportunity to borrow the books. The mobile library services currently cover all nine provinces in South Africa, with 50 mobile libraries in operation, reaching out to around 800 schools.

The success of this book donation drive is with thanks to Sony Corporation, the South African Consulate in Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, schools, other organizations and the wider community.

Now the books have been collected, they will be shipped to South Africa by a major global container shipping company, Ocean Network Express Pte. Ltd (ONE), which provides free transportation for all books collected by Sony companies globally.

Mr Henry Lee, Managing Director of Sony Corporation of Hong Kong Limited said “We’re thankful to get strong support… the South Africa Mobile Library Project is ongoing and we will continue to conduct book donation drives every year, aiming to bring more English books to the South African children.” Since the projects inception in 2008, over 240,000 books have been collected through joint initiatives by 17 Sony Group companies in 11 countries and regions across the globe.

Other schools and organizations involved are as follows;

American School Hong Kong

Beacon Hill School

Bradbury School

Baptist Rainbow Primary School

Consulate General of the Republic of South Africa HKSAR/MSAR

Chu Kong Plan

ESF Kennedy School

Hong Kong Housing Society

Hilburgmalan

Investec

Island Christian Academy

Japanese International School

Kerry Logistics

Korean International School

Lok Sin Ton Wong Chung Ming Secondary School

MSIG Insurance (Hong Kong) Limited

Mwimbi Consulting Limited

Mwimbi Fine Art Gallery (Hong Kong)

New World Development Company Limited

Ocean Network Express (East Asia) Ltd

Oxford University Press (China) Ltd

Quarry Bay School

Renaissance College

Rotary District 3450

Ricoh Hong Kong Limited

Sage World Charity Fund

Sha Tin Junior School

Southern African Association of Hong Kong

South African Airways

Sino Estate

Sony Pictures Entertainment

Sony Music HK

The ISF Academy

The HK Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Tsung Tsin Kindergarten and Primary School

WWF Hong Kong