Library hero John Nicholson has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for the children of Lavender Hill.
John has challenged himself to walk the nearly 500km from Cape Town to George on 1 April.
He has been training for his feat, and has lost more than 10kg in the process, as he also cycles with the youth as part of his community project.
John aims to walk at least 100km each day in his five-day quest to raise R1 million.
BUZZ OF ANTICIPATION: Spelling bee challenge kids
With this money, he plans to buy more books and shelves, and also hopes to establish an internet cafe and digital literacy room for the youth which will aid them in searching for jobs.
For this he will need at least five laptops and printers.
He also hopes to raise enough funds to buy a minibus to take the kids on excursions.
Meanwhile, John contines his passion to get laaities to read and has now launched spelling bees at his Hillview library.
John says the competitions are to encourage children who attend his home-based library to learn the words so they can read properly and with comprehension.
John says the reason why children cannot read is because they cannot spell.
The spelling bees are a lot of fun, with the winners are rewarded with small gifts.
John’s library, “Siyafunda” which means to read, and his non-profit organisation Omegaview has started operating again after being shut down and closed for nearly two years by the City of Cape Town.
In April 2018, the City cautioned that he must remove the roof or face a penalty of R730 following a decision by the Municipal Planning Tribunal.
This is after John was approached by a sponsor, Jean Williams of Biblionef SA, to install a new roof after the old one started leaking.
But when John and Williams approached the City, they learnt that there was no formal building plan for the garage and John was advised to remove the roof.
The City also told John he must apply for a land use permit and permission to operate his library.
The new roof plans were approved in December 2018 and thanks to generous donors as far as Germany, London and Wales, the library was rebuilt and re-opened.
Despite the shutdown, John and his wife Gail continued to feed children in the area at least twice a week, although they had to cancel the reading sessions.
John said Wednesday the kids are now excited about reading with confidence after being taught how to spell.
“Spelling is important because it promotes healthy reading and helps them to read better and understand what they are reading and this is the problem children have at school,” he says.
John says while they have hundreds of books in storage, there simply is not enough space for them in the library and they urgently need shelves.
If you want to help the library hero John Nicholson then visit www.backabuddy.co.za/omegaview-community-project
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genevieve.serra@inl.co.za