School library gets a guardian angel
AFTER hearing an on-air plea for books by Springfield Hindu Primary School’s principal, librarian Hasinah Goga decided to pitch in with the best she had — herself.
Goga is a retired school librarian who has dedicated her time to helping disadvantaged schools to set up functioning libraries.
“This is part of my community service. Instead of sitting at home, I go to underprivileged schools and help them get more children reading,” she said.
This week, Goga was one of the guests of honour at the opening of the Springfield school library.
A lack of finances closed the library down in the 1990s, but in February last year the Umhlanga Hindu Society helped principal Omar Mohamed and staff with a charity book drive.
Since then, the school has received about 10 000 books. Mohamed described the response from the community as “overwhelming and unexplainable”.
Goga joined the initiative in June this year and has spent her time digging through the boxes of donated books, colour-coding them according to their age appropriateness, and training the staff.
The 60-year-old said it was rewarding to know that her contribution would encourage reading among children.
“I love to see children read. If I can turn one child to reading, it would be enough for me. Getting children excited about reading is something that I truly love.”