Pizza Hut goes on a “Slice of Africa” journey.
Under the leadership of General Manager of Pizza Hut Africa, Ewan Davenport, the Slice of Africa team launched The African Literacy Project at Pizza Hut’s Westgate outlet today (13.4.2018). Instead of delivering pizza, the team provided Red Reading Boxes from NGO partner the READ Educational Trust to Kibera Primary School students involved with the Shining Hope For Communities (SHOFCO) in Kibera. The reading materials will help students and teachers engage in multifunctional educational tools, enriching their learning experience.
The Red Reading Boxes were created to give children a reading kit and include stationery, books, games, puzzles, and cards. All of the items are carefully designed to help children build literacy, from recognizing words on a card to picking up a book and experiencing the sheer joy of reading.
Pizza Hut opened it’s 100th store in Sub-Saharan Africa and launched the literacy mission to help make a real impact on Africa’s high illiteracy levels. Speaking to Capital Campus, Mr. Davenport stated, “280 people in Africa cannot read due to access to books and reading material…In Kenya, there are many schools but not enough learning materials.We believe that providing access to reading resources will help people thrive, creating more prosperous communities.” In their quest to distribute reading materials, Pizza Hut representatives are set to visit 14 cities across the continent and cover over 20,000KM with the aim to improve literacy in Africa. So far, the team has visited Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Uganda and are set to travel to Tanzania and South Africa in the latter part of their journey.
Pizza Hut Africa’s new literacy mission is in line with the brand’s global initiative established in 2016, The Literacy Project, works to raise awareness for literacy-related issues and engage consumers to help make a difference. In its first year, the global campaign impacted 15.9 million people and distributed more than 275,000 books and educational resources to communities in the U.S., Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica and South Africa.
The Slice of Africa team along with Pizza Hut Kenya has launched a customer donation drive in each country to raise funds which will be combined with Pizza Hut contributions to roll out as many boxes as possible. For every purchase of chicken wings or Hershey’s chocolate chip cookie, Pizza Hut will donate Ksh 50 to the African Literacy Project. Pizza Hut patrons and the public are able to be part of the “Slice of Africa” project along the route by donating both in-store or online.
