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Mandela Day will see the launch of a campaign to provide 10 libraries, constructed from converted shipping containers, to primary schools across South Africa.

The initiative is the brainchild of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Through the work of NGO Breadline Africa and the support of the international shipping company NYK and its Helping Hands Scheme, the project will benefit an estimate 9500 learners in some of the country's poorest communities.

It will be the first time these children have ever had access to a fully functioning library at school.

The libraries will be placed in schools in Tsakane, Wellington, Parys, Highflats, Bisho, Nelspruit, Mafikeng, Bochum, Jan Kempdorp near Kimberley, and at a life-skills centre in Randburg.

Mandela Day coordinator of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Frank Meintjies, said the intention was for the libraries to become centres where the idea of books is celebrated, stories are told and the joy of reading is discovered.

"Nelson Mandela has said that his favourite pastime has always been reading. Books open a world of learning for children, and literacy plays a critical role in growing our nation," Meintjies said.

Cape-based Breadline Africa specialises in renovating disused shipping containers and recycling them for essential community purposes.

"We buy sturdy, water-tight containers at a low cost and transform them into mobile structures which can be used to feed, educate or as clinics in rural areas. Our projects aim to establish a level of self-sustainability within communities," said Tim Smith, director of Breadline Africa.

Once renovated, containers have been used by the NGO to serve as community kitchens for serving food to the needy, daycare centres for children, health clinics, ablution blocks, educare centres, libraries and media centres in schools.

The Mandela Day container library initiative received more than R500000 from the NYK Helping Hands Scheme for this year.

Other players in the project include Soul City, which will coordinate the participation of schools; FirstRand, which will help with the installing and equipping of the Tsakane Primary School container library; LegalWise, which will open a library of its own at the Little Legends Centre in Randburg; and SAA, which will not only provide two libraries in Madiba's home villages of Mvezo and Qunu in the Eastern Cape, but also computers and internet access for all the libraries through a co-operation with Cell C and Hewlett-Packard.

Organisations supplying books for the libraries include NGO Biblionef, the READ Foundation, and publishing houses Maskew Miller Longman and Oxford University Press. Rotary has donated a considerable number of books in the Gauteng area.