A non-profit organisation (NPO) founded by a Bothasig resident is helping to build a library in Despatch near Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape, as well as collecting books for it.
The NPO, Back 2 School, was founded by Aphiwe Magida from Bothasig, a qualified teacher with over 25 years teaching experience.
The NPO aims to educate young artists about the commercial side of art, says Aphiwe who is also the chair of the organisation.
Back 2 School was started in 2019.
“Some young artists did not know how they could go about making money out of the art that they create. I started Back 2 School as an initiative that provides monthly free workshops whereby we invite guest speakers to educate us about the commercial side of art, and how we can go about making money out of the art we create,” Aphiwe explained when asked about the reason for starting the NPO.
He says several young artists from across Cape Town are involved in the NPO with some of the board members living in Khayelitsha, Table View, Paarl and Langa.”
One of the projects that they are currently undertaking in partnership with the Sinako Reading Club, is collecting books for a library in the Winnie Mandela Township in Despatch which is currently being built. So far, the organisation has managed to collect close to 1 000 books, thanks to donations. They also collected books from a bin at the Edgemead Library recently.
“They were going to throw them away. The books that we have retrieved from the trash is close to 500,” Aphiwe says.
The library being built is one that will help the children who live there, who travel miles to get to the town’s library.
“This is the only library they can use for school projects and borrowing books. We decided to embark on this journey, because as Back 2 School we have an obligation to uplift the youth.
“We saw it as an important thing to do, to give these children a chance to learn – access to their basic human rights, that of education. Education does not start and end at school, and these kids need libraries too,” Aphiwe says.
The library has no name yet, as it is still in the process of being built. Aphiwe says Vodacom has donated a container for this project which is used to build the library in.
- To donate books email back2school.organisation@gmail.com.
