ACJ Library Book Drive

Time always runs away so fast and it often seems that you live from one fortnight to the next, caught up in the moment and helping the wonderful children that we work with. Planning for the future though, is a vital part of continuing the projects successfully and so over the last two weeks, we have had the opportunity to start preparing for an upcoming event that we hope will provide a boost for ACJ Pakade Primary School.

The current library at ACJ is an empty shell (as the photo above shows). The bookcases have no shelves attached and the shelves have no books. GVI and ACJ plan to try and change that. ACJ is one of the 13% of public schools in South Africa that has a library space but no books and so is one of the schools that have the potential to house a collection of books that will inspire, engage and develop the students’ love of reading.

Step one in the grand book collecting initiative began last Tuesday on South Africa’s Women’s Day public holiday when the volunteers started to spread the word around the local communities. They designed flyers and posters, wrote to local businesses and then spilt into different groups to cover Gordon’s Bay and surrounding areas of The Strand and Somerset West. Signs were put up in shop windows, collection points set-up and many flyers handed out. It was really nice to see the local community support our efforts and one bookshop in Gordon’s Bay even donated books on the spot.

In the last week, calls have been coming in from community members wanting to make sure that the books that they wanted to donate would be going to a good home. Clearly we have been doing a good job of reassuring them as one lady even decided to donate her much loved Harry Potter collection!

So many people have been so keen to donate and help out. It has been really rewarding to talk to people and to see them start to think straight away of those dusty books at the back of the shelf that could be loved by a whole new generation.  The garage back at base is already starting to fill up but so many books are needed, there is still a long way to go. With 1800 students to cater for, we will need a lot of books!

Please check out our Just Giving page for a bit more information (www.justgiving.com/acj-library-day) and keep an eye on the blog spot for regular updates.

Melanie Welfare - Teaching Coordinator

ACJ Library Book Drive