Plan for reading haven in Westlake

The Westlake United Church Trust plans to start a reading corner on its premises to encourage a culture of literacy in the community.

The reading nook aims to provide a quiet and comfortable space for book lovers of all ages.

The trust is cataloguing its collection of fiction and non-fiction books, but it needs chairs, bean bags, tables, rugs and cushions.

The project revives registered nurse Louette McCallum’s idea for somewhere mothers could read to their children, says Pieter Greyling, the trust’s general manager.

“That was the concept, but we've expanded it a bit now. We're planning to set up reading sessions or a children’s reading hour with volunteers who read and people come to listen. Then we want to invite people to come and use the room just to sit and read by themselves, adults or children. Eventually we want to get to a point where we can lend people the books to take home and read,” said Mr Greyling.

Constantia Rotary Club member Geoff von Klemperer said they would provide shelving for the reading corner, and three of the club’s members would install it.

The reading corner will put books on the doorstep for many in the poor community who might otherwise struggle to reach the nearest library in Tokai about three-to-four kilometres away.

One of those working on the project is Grace Chinsamba, a third-year UCT social work student doing her internship at Westlake United Church Trust.

She said she had not had ready access to books growing up in Rimuka, a small township in Kadoma, Zimbabwe, as her nearest library had been a 45-minute walk away, and she had only discovered her love for books when she had gone to a high school with its own library.

Reading had improved her vocabulary as a second-language English speaker, she said.

“I'm hoping the reading corner provides an earlier access to books for the kids so that they don't grow up the way that I did without books. Hopefully it instils a reading culture in children, a desire for learning, to know more and just opens a new world to them.”

Ms Chinsamba said the trust hoped to open the reading corner in the next four-to-five weeks.