Pupils of Portavue Primary School in Surrey Estate now have 700 new books to read at their school library.
The books were donated by a mineral-processing company on Thursday December 1. The school asked the public to donate books after it launched its library in September (“Portavue Primary needs books for new library,” Athlone News, September 14).
Professor of education at the University of Stellenbosch Jonathan Jansen, who connected the school with the Help the Rural Child non-profit organisation, which arranged for the company to donate the books, said that he had decided to help because the pupils showed a passion for reading.
“There is an energy and love for reading. My children grew up with reading and loved reading. During the school holidays, they read and the books took them to a different world so they were never bored,” he said.
He encouraged pupils to excel at their school work and make a good life for themselves, then come back and thank their teachers and leaders for what they had done for them.
“There is so much that can depress us but so much we can be grateful for. Live your life. Be humble. Take every day as if it’s your last,” he said.
Natalie Cheketri, from Help the Rural Child, sourced the books for the library. She said that lots of schools had libraries but finding one with a deep passion for reading was rare.
“With passion you can help everybody, but without passion you can’t help anybody. I am so happy that we can make the children happy and excited. Thank you for all the blessings,” she said.
Principal Trevor Da Rocha, said the school was blessed to have partners to support it.
“We are blessed to have a space like this and teachers who are passionate about taking our school forward. There have been helpers along the way. The idea has been to keep our children occupied, not go home after school and do nothing. We needed to give them something to do in intervals. What we need now are sponsors to help us build a school hall,” he said.
Natasha Kruger, a representative from the mineral-processing company, said that it was important for any school to have a library so that pupils had a safe place to read and find a place to build their creativity and imagination as well as develop compassion for themselves and others. She said that through books children learnt to identify with the characters and then people in real life.
“Pupils face many challenges so having a library is a safe space for them to let out and just disappear into the books. It gives them the freedom to just think beyond what they are challenged with at that moment,” she said.