Building our future through education

Bonny Loureiro, GM of RITE, chats to us about Renasa’s passion for primary education.

Tony: Let’s start with an overview of RITE, what it stands for, its founding, and affiliation with Renasa? 

Bonny: RITE stands for Renasa Insurance Training and Education, and we started in 2006.

With a fellow teacher and friend, we had developed this program that taught the alphabet to grade one and R learners. We were selling it to schools that could afford the program, which was great because we could make some money, but the need was so great in schools that could not afford the program that I decided to give it to those schools, which brought us the most pleasure. But we could not do this on our own and we needed Renasa to back us.

The fundraising that goes on through Renasa’s colleagues, brokers, and various other business partners, allows us to print the books that we donate to the schools. 

I am passionate about teaching children or facilitating learning. Most teachers do so much with so little as they just do not have the resources. You can imagine five- and six-year-olds just wanting what they need as young children, to learn and to be happy and secure in a safe environment. So, working with these teachers has been very humbling and very inspiring because I feel like I can help them a bit. It is a drop in the ocean, but it is something. 

We can give them the books that we have written and printed through Renasa and they go away so happy that they have a pack of 50 or so books that they can use in their classrooms the next day. So, it is a very worthwhile cause.

We also try to inspire the teachers, giving them ideas on how to teach the alphabet, how to make it fun and exciting for the children. They are five or six years old, so it is all about games and playing. If they can learn while they are playing, then that is the best way to learn.

So, we give the teachers ideas on how to use products from the home, recyclable milk bottles, bottle tops, egg boxes, yogurt containers, and jam tins, and using all these things to make games, to teach the alphabet. For example, they would collect plastic bottles, put the letter that they are teaching on the front of the bottle and then line them up to make skittles. The child must then throw a ball, knock the skittle over and then go and look to see which letter they knocked over. The teacher will then ask them questions about that letter. In that way, they are incorporating learning and fun and games to the classroom. It makes a difference because the teachers always need fresh ideas on how to teach numeracy and literacy.

Tony: Where does RITE get its funds from and when you raise the funds, how do they get used? 

Bonny: Jonathan Rosenberg, Renasa CEO, has been so supportive of RITE. He has felt that it is a part of our responsibility to give back to the communities and help where we can. I am employed by Renasa and all the money we raise goes straight to the printing of the books. 

We managed to raise some money by hosting a family fun run on Mandela day. Everyone paid R67 to run, walk, hike, jog or whatever for 67 minutes. We managed to raise R20 000 just from that day, which was amazing, because we could not do our golf day.

We have an annual charity golf day in October, which is coming up, and that is our main fundraiser. We must try and raise about R100 000 per annum to cover the cost of the printing. We print about 50,000 books a year, which we donate, throughout the year. 

Tony: What successes have you seen with RITE? 

Bonny: It is great for the insurance industry to see that Renasa is a company that thinks of others and gives back, it is not all about making money. It is also about helping those less fortunate than ourselves and the previously disadvantaged. The golf day that we host builds awareness for what we do at RITE. People love to see positive things happening and people doing things to help others without much thought for themselves and that is what Renasa does with RITE.

Tony: Why do you think, RITE specifically, is so important to Renasa when there are so many things to focus on? 

Bonny: Reading and writing is key to the future of this country, and many children get to grade five or six and they do not know how to read and write. They somehow slip through the cracks, which is incredibly sad.

When we first met with the teachers to give them our Alphabet Program, they told us that they did not have enough books to read with the children. So then, Jonathan said we should write some books.

I can now say I am a proud author of 15 books which the children use in grade R and in grade one. They are all in English as they must learn to speak English at that level, even though their mother tongue is very important. The teachers can then translate it for them into their mother tongue. because they are very simple one liners with eight lines per book. They love them, they are full of colour, and they are very interactive. There are enough books for everyone to hold and turn the pages. It has been a wonderful journey. 

Tony: I have spoken to quite a few people who have education initiatives and a lot of them focus on that foundation stage. It is the future of our country. 

Bonny: We love talking to our colleagues in the insurance, we love to hear what other people do. There are so many people doing so much, which is so positive, and heart-warming and we love to collaborate with them. If they have schools that they support, whether they paint them or pay for the teacher, we can come in with our books and donate to those schools. We are always looking for people and schools that are in need and under-resourced, so that we can donate to them. We do not want to give to people that can afford it, we want to find those that really need it.

Tony: Please tell me about your golf day coming up? 

Bonny: It is taking place on the 4th of October. If any of the insurance people out there are keen to play, I have been sending out invitations, but if they have not received one, we would love to hear from them and we will happily invite them to this very insurance related golf day.