It’s Library Week and Time for an Update from the Gang at Se7en+1…

It is Library week in South Africa and libraries all over the country will be celebrating. I have to say that our weekly visit to the library is an absolute highlight for all of us as we amble down the road and gather up some new and exciting reads to take home. This is of course a luxury and we are well aware of it. A couple of weeks back, on World book Giving Day, we announced our intention, with the help of out readers to create a Community Library for a library in Blackheath an outlying area of Cape Town, where children do not have access to school or public libraries. A number of schools: pre-school, primary schools, and secondary schools are dependant on the library for books.

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This library is in a community that realised the dire need for a library as part of their community centre, a place of upliftment and encouragement to the surrounding area. The problem is, that they lack the resources to create anything other than the absolute basics. The books are in very poor repair and while most of us know the comfortable feel of a favourite old book, it is quite another too try and and learn to read with a book so tattered and taped as to be unreadable. We would like to provide these fledgling readers with some encouragement. When I think of my child hood favourites that I have shared with my children and really believe it is time that all South African children have access to books… we cannot provide for everyone, but we can help one library at a time and we can gather up a library book by book with the help of our readers. This community is desperate for some upliftment and they need books to fulfil their dream of a library. Any books children’s books, picture books, easy readers, chapter books and teen reads; adult books as well, fiction, non-fiction… any books really.

Meet the Kids

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The Books Are Starting to Arrive…

Slowly but surely the books are being donated, and a large box of books that is slowly but surely filling up under my desk. Other books are beginning to arrive at the centre and book by book we are creating a small library. Take a peak at some of the books folk have sent in so far.

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Photograph courtesy of Sarah

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Photograph courtesy of Pitzydoodle

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Photograph courtesy of my friend at the123blog.com

Thanks to Irene for a couple of Afrikaans books.

Thanks Zoe, who bought these books online in Afrikaans

How Can You Help?

Step 1: Select a Book or Books

  1. You can search through your books for gently used books that your children have outgrown or no longer love.
  2. You can buy a book or two with your children and package them up.
  3. You can shop at Amazon and ship directly.
  4. And you can shop on-line, locally at Loot, and ship directly as well.

While all the students do learn English, it is not their mother tongue. Most of the learners have Afrikaans as their first language and about twenty percent of them have Xhosa as their first language. Do not let language hold you back, they do learn English in school. English books are welcome, so are books in Afrikaans and Xhosa. Any books will be great, story books, picture books, craft books, cook books, reference books… really any books. There is a large community being served here. If you are shopping overseas and would like to buy local language books then click on the South African vendor to find books and they will deliver locally for you.

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Step 2: Contact us.

Leave a comment or contact us for the address to send the books you have chosen. There is a human person behind each and every email (that would be me) and they take time… please be patient the address will get to you as soon as I can.

Step 3: Let us Know All About the Books You Chose

We would love if you could photograph the books you are sending, if you shop on-line then just send us a list of the books that you ordered. If you have a blog and write about it then let us know and we will have a Progress Post each week. I will pop the photo’s you send into the post and if you do have a blog there will be a chance for you to link up as well…

We are so excited about this project and we really hope that our readers seize the day and join us… it doesn’t have to be huge… if even one percent of our readers pop a book into an envelope and post it off… we will have a library!!! So here’s to hoping that we hear from you all really soon… leave a comment saying you would like to join us, contact us… Please share this post… whatever you need to do… we would so love to hear from you!!!

We are extending the project to the end of the month, when we plan to visit the library and deliver the books that we have collected ourselves.

Previous Posts in this Series

Previous Libraries That We Have Helped to Create.

Disclosure: The Amazon and Loot links in this post are affiliate links and our blog will earn a very small percentage of the book sales made there, we pledge to put any of our earnings from books for the school directly back into buying more books for them… this is their project and we don’t in any way want to gain financially from it.

8 Replies to “It’s Library Week and Time for an Update from the Gang at Se7en+1…”

  1. Oops, I think I managed to comment a different post that I intended to – anyway, I love your initiative with the libraries. I think we’ll try to get a couple of books together for you also – can they also be second-hand purchases as some of those are as good as new?

  2. Hi Reeta, No problem… I got your comment! They can indeed be second hand purchases, any books will be perfect. I will drop you an email with the shipping details as soon as I am at my computer. Have a fabulous day and Thank you so much!!!

  3. Hi Se7en

    I would like to purchase a few Afrikaans book from Loot. Please can you send me the shipping address.

    Thanks
    Jo

  4. Hi Jo, Thank you so very much for offering to help with our book collection… I have popped an email off to you and it should be landing in your inbox… right about now. Hope you have a good week!!!

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