‘Cape Flats Stories’ puts life in literary landscape
AN IDEA which started off as a Facebook page has morphed into a book club, and now the has embarked on a book drive to promote the culture of reading.
Stanley Jacobs, who started the Facebook page, said he was motivated by the need for literacy on the Cape Flats and“that we can’t just have all these brilliant ideas on social media. We have to reach out to our people and make a difference”.
Jacobs said their goal was to accumulate 300 books for their first drive where they will be distributed to organisations and households.
Athlone, Lavender Hill and Manenberg have been identified as the first townships that will benefit from the first drive which will be a quarterly event.
The list of other townships will be added as the project expands.
“Through our debates on the page we realised there are more drug houses and shebeens on the Cape Flats than bookshops…
“We needed to change the narrative. has taken charge of the initiative.… We will start at the end of January with our first book drive,” Jacobs said.
They have identified four local organisations that will keep the books at their venues where people will be able to read the books in a safe space.
“We need to birth a culture amongst our people that education can change their lives. Reading is very important and allows people to grow. It can become a path to freedom.
“My grandmother always encouraged me to read a lot as she herself couldn’t read and this has changed my life hence I want to help others.”
Jacobs asked for donations of poetry, paperback easy readers, children’s picture books, drama, encyclopaedias, atlases, dictionaries, and other reading materials for people of all ages.