Gugulethu youth organisation on a mission to turn church library into public library
Gugulethu based community organisation, Township Youth Movement (TYM), have taken it upon themselves to open a second public library in the township.
With currently only one public library in Gugulethu in NY144, access is an issue for many people.
“Gugulethu currently has one public library that offers its services to four sections of Gugulethu. For some residents it is impossible to travel a long distance to the library due to gangsterism and other social factors,” said Madiba.
He said his group wanted to bring information and resources, such as computers and internet, closer to the people. They also wanted to help school learners with their school work, and assist the community with information and opportunities that could lead to employment and skills development.
TYM’s Mkhuseli Madiba said their main objective was to recreate the operational systems of a public library with the JL Zwane Library in NY2, opening doors durinthe week from 10am to 5pm starting on 5 May.
Though functional, the JL Zwane Library is struggling to stay operational with only one full time staff member.
Township Youth Movement want to make the JL Zwane Library into a public library in Gugulethu.
“The library is open and working but not efficiently. It is short on resources and only two of its five computers work. The books we have were from international donors and are not helpful for some of the school learners. Some of the textbooks that we have are based on the old school curriculum,” said Madiba.
Norma Mcinga, a volunteer at the library, said they were working really hard to make the library public and to get resources. More and more people visited the library and sometimes they had to turn people away because the computers weren’t working or they didn’t have specific books.
Cosmas Mabeya, who works at Equal Education’s The Bookery, where books can be donated, said TYM could get in touch with them and they would help where they could in terms of providing books for the library.
To donate to the JL Zwane library, e-mail TYM on townshipyouthmovement [at] gmail.com or call Mkhuseli Madiba on 073 605 4998.
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