Hero in my Hood has shared the team’s goals for 2023 and they include more books in more South African languages and getting books to each organisation currently on the waiting list.
South Africa (26 January 2023) – For children as young as six, the best way to learn valuable lessons is through fun, engaging and educational activities. Hero in my Hood was founded to help teach lessons while keeping things fun.
The organisation creates fun activity pages for children aged 6 to 12 years. Characters Jongi, Thandi and their friends are illustrated in activity form on heroic adventures to learn important life lessons. Hero in my Hood was founded in 2016 by Mandy Lomberg and Kate Boyes.
Hero in my Hood has set goals for 2023 that will see the team expanding the topics they discuss in the books and activity pages. They also hope to create resources for teachers as well as fund the books for all the organisations currently on the waiting list.
The most important goal they have set is to get more of the Hero in my Hood content translated into more South African languages.
“A whole new year lies ahead, with (old and) new challenges, aims and resolutions. Already, we are forging ahead, resilient in the face of load shedding, heatwaves and whatever 2023 serves up.
We have loads of ideas for exciting new material, and welcome your suggestions and requests, too. We will push to get more of our existing work translated into more SA languages, and will be applying for funding grants to achieve this. Here’s rooting for successful connections and partnerships in 2023, and that we can tick off any number of items from our wish list for the year.
HERO’S 2023 Wish List
This year, we aim to:
- Produce a new story activity book around any one of the following themes: Water, The Circular Economy or Climate Change(with funding, we could do all three!)
- Produce training videos on Gender-Based Violence/Bullying to accompany The Freestyle Stars Teachers’ Guide
- Produce a set of flash/conversation cards that complement our Humane Education Phonetic Alphabet Chart
- Create greater awareness to save the African Penguin from extinction
- Source funding to supply books to everyone on our waiting list.
- Contract external commissioned work to cover staff salaries.
Hero is primarily self-funded.
Our business model has been a hybrid of book sales and targeted sponsorship: NGOs purchase the books from us, and we work with them, and independently, to obtain sponsorship for the recipients of the books. Donations fund the printing and distribution of books. Salaries are currently covered by freelance and commissioned work. Our process is ongoing, and only slowed by lack of funds.Currently, we have requests for some 60 000 books from more than 40 different organisations.”
There are several ways one can get involved. You can order books for your child and/or school, you can sponsor books for children in need, or you can commission your own books from the organisation. All of these options will help expand children’s access to helpful learning materials in 2023.
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