Western Cape

Books are distributed in Ottery - also known as Montagu's Gift - which forms part of the broader Grassy Park area of Cape Town. The area includes people formerly classified as 'coloured', whose home language is either English or Afrikaans. Children from surrounding areas whose home language is Xhosa are also beginning to attend pre-schools and schools in this area. There is a fairly high rate of unemployment in this area, with harsh living conditions and a lack of recreational facilities for children and youth. Gangsterism, sexual and substance abuse are endemic in the area.

First Words in Print has formed partnerships with clinics, libraries, home-based care groups and pre-schools serving the working class families of Ottery. The Grassy Park and Ottery libraries act as nodal points for book distribution and project coordination.

Mpumalanga

In the second phase of the project First Words in Print is expanding from its pilot phase base in villages in the Maphotla area, to reach neighbouring villages. This area is predominantly Ndebele-speaking, with about one third of the population speaking sePedi (Northern Sotho). The area is known to have high unemployment and illiteracy rates and most of their pre-schools operate from basic structures and with very limited resources.

The library in KwaMhlanga, which is about 40 km from Maphotla, continues to be used as a nodal point for book storage and distribution. The library staff are continuing to coordinate the project in Maphotla and work in collaboration with community workers, healthy practitioners and pre-school teachers based there.

Eastern Cape

First Words in Print first base in this province has been Mt. Ayliff, and in the second phase distribution will expand to villages around this base. Mt. Ayliff is a rural 'town' which has a small hospital, municipal offices, post office and other basic infrastructure which services the surrounding villages. The people are generally Xhosa-speaking. About 40% of the economically active male population is involved in migrant labour and nearly half of the homes in the area are headed and run by women. Illiteracy rates are high.

The project continues to be coordinated by an educare NGO based in King Williams Town called the Regional Educare Council (REC), which has a network of about 50 pre-schools in the Mt. Ayliff area. The REC works collaboratively with members of their network who form area teams and coordinate activities on the ground.

Free State

The project is developing and expanding its operation around Viljoenskroon, a town located midway between Kroonstad and Parys which serves the surrounding farming community. The project works in the town's 'satellite' township of Rammulotsi, on surrounding farms and in the area around Kroonstad, where mainly seSotho is spoken. Migrant labour, high levels of unemployment and illiteracy are also common in this area. The township has a clinic and a relatively well-resourced library.

Ntataise, a very well-established educare NGO in Viljoenskroon, continues to coordinate the project in the Free State in collaboration with its network of pre-schools, local libraries and clinics. Ntataise plays a fundamentally important role in the training of caregivers, as it has experienced and skilled pre-school trainers who are be ideally placed to train caregivers.

Kwa-Zulu Natal

The second phase of the project has seen the expansion of First Words in Print's work to KwaZulu-Natal, a province which is home to 1,5 million of the 6,5 million children under the age of six in South Africa. In rural areas of this province 53% of the population is under the age of six and unemployment and illiteracy levels are high, as is the level of HIV/AIDS infection. The people are generally Zulu-speaking.

The project is distributing books in KwaZulu-Natal in partnership with three large ECD organisations: Training and Resources in Early Education (TREE), the largest ECD in the province, based in Durban, which reaches about 70 000 - 80 000 children; the Family Literacy Project, also based in Durban; and the Zisizeni Association for Development, an outreach project in KwaMagwaza, in northern KwaZulu-Natal.