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The principal of Rivoni Special School accepts books from the Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi.

School and communities to benefit from book donation

 

Some schools, community crèches and community members in Elim rejoiced after receiving books from the Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi, last Thursday.

The event formed part of the national celebration of World Book Day, which was later held in the community of Ga-Nkoana at Fetakgomo Municipality in the Sekhukhune area on Friday.

Mabudafhasi said that South Africa was joining the people of the world in celebrating books and authors. She encouraged children, pupils and parents to read. She quoted a world-renowned poet and author, the late Maya Angelou: “Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him”.

She said that reading books was not just an enjoyable pastime, but was an integral part of the struggle to be a free and prosperous nation. She reminded people of the words of Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who said that for an individual, reading opened up new worlds, and that it revealed new ideas and suggested new opportunities. “For a nation, reading is a gateway to a different, better future. A winning nation actively promotes reading,” she said.

She said that it was sad that the findings of the research done by the South African Book Development Council indicated that only 14% of South Africans were active readers. “It is in our hands to change the outlook of the research findings that indicate that we are not a reading nation,” she said. “There are many reasons that contributed to that situation; to name but a few, illiteracy, lack of access to books and the fact that there are no libraries where the majority of our people live, especially in the rural areas.”

She added that her department and the National Library of South Africa had donated books written by South African authors to several households, schools, Elim hospital, Alusani Pre-School, Rivoni Special School and Elim Hlanganani Society for the Care of the Aged. The donated books include South African classics that have been reprinted as part of the Reprint of Classics Project, championed by the National Library of South Africa.

“Through the reading campaign, we will continue to reach many people, especially in the rural communities who cannot afford to buy books,” she said. “It is through this very campaign that we donating books written in the languages spoken by the targeted communities.”

Mr Isaac Mabunda, whose family received a special visit and a donation of books, thanked Ms Mabudafhasi and her team "for the gift of reading.” 

The children at Alusani Pre-School received books.

The Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi, encouraged communities to read.

The Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi (left), presents books to Ms Emily Baloyi and Mr Isaac Mabunda.

 

Date:05 May 2016

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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