Guardians of Literacy

Guardians of Literacy

On 16 May 2011, we held our first World Book Day Charity Event in Pretoria at the National Botanical Gardens. Under the slogan ‘Words for a living—Words for a life’, we aimed to bring people who use words for living together with the public. It was to be an opportunity to foster collaboration between all these different word-users while simultaneously raising public awareness and collecting books for charity.

As it turned out, it poured with rain on the day, which wasn’t the best weather for an open-air event. Still, a few dedicated booksellers, authors, poets, actors, students and publisher’s representatives gathered with blankets, umbrellas, and books. We didn’t quite have the turnout we planned for, but it was not bad for a start.

The real success was that, despite the weather, we managed to collect just over R20 000 worth of books for underprivileged children. This was a true collaborative accomplishment. We received contributions from Helco Promotions, Book Promotions, BK Publishers, Pan Macmillan, Exclusive Books Kolonnade and members of the public.

After the event we had enough books to donate to one school library. But finding a good candidate was more difficult than we anticipated. That is not to say that there aren’t enough schools in South Africa that desperately need books. The problem was finding a school that had bookshelves and a system to catalogue and regulate the books. No matter how much we wanted to, it wasn’t practical to give books to an institution that couldn’t manage them.

We decided to go on 8 June to Makonyama Primary School in Hammanskraal. Computers and portable book cabinets had been donated to them previously, so they had the facilities but not the books. While we were at the school, we read to children and explained to them the importance of valuing and taking care of books. In exchange, some of the children read to us and sang to us. It was an indescribably rewarding experience.

We want to do this again next year, only bigger. For that we have to start now. What we’ve realized is that infrastructure is just as important as the books themselves. If any of you have bookshelves, old computers, or books that you would like to donate, or even if you simply want to stay informed of any developments, please email us at guardiansofliteracy@gmail.com