School aims for 30km washing line
4 June 2004
The Riverview Preparatory School in Malelane in Mpumalanga, with the support of farmers in the region, will attempt to erect a 30 kilometre long washing line, the longest ever, starting on Youth Day, 16 June.
The official world record attempt, monitored by the Guiness Book of Records, will take place at the old Komatipoort Airport in Malelane. The current world record is 27.4 kilometres.
Approximately 40 000 pieces of clothing will be hung, using 70 000 washing pegs.
At the same time, clothes will be collected for poor communities in South Africa and Mozambique, and an outreach programme called River Reach will be launched.
A countrywide clothes roundup will mark the event, with the public and institutions urged to take spare clothes to their nearest Shoprite Checkers branch and place them in marked golden trolleys.
The Rotary Club of Johannesburg will distribute the clothes to designated Child Welfare Societies and two
mission stations in South Africa and Mozambique.
Through the Riverview Outreach Programme, the Riverview Preparatory School will also work with the community to extend computer facilities to other schools in the area.
Miriam Makeba is the patron of the Riverview Kids Washing Line Project, which has received financial sponsorship and support from Absa Bank and other institutions.
The aim is to complete the washing line on 19 June, when a celebratory function will be held at Komatipoort Airport.
"Absa fully endorses the business imperatives of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad)", said Absa Group agri-business general manager Venete Klein.
"The washing line project is one of the events in the spirit of Nepad that Absa is supporting."
Source: Absa Bank
| 
