Feed from this pot of wisdom, Alex creatives urged
ALEXANDRA – Alex’s youth implored to suck as much knowledge as they can from Prof Wally Serote while he lives.
One of the founding members of the Alexandra Book Club, Refilwe Pieterse has described Professor Wally Mongane Serote as ‘a pot of wisdom from which up and coming Alex arts creatives can eat from to enrich their hunger for knowledge.
She said this during a book donation by Serote to the club at Sankopano Centre on 15 April, which also marked its official launch as an institution that will endeavour to revive and restore the dying culture of reading among the township’s youth.
“We’re worried that our youth no longer read as we used to in our times and the times of those before us, hence we founded the book club as a way of trying to rekindle the love for reading.
“Our youth are now consumed by technology and social media such that they can hardly find the time to read a book or novel. If they are not glued to the TV screens, they are texting away to friends on social media,” Pieterse said.
Pieterse, who is a poet that works closely with another legendary Alex poet Selaelo Maredi who once lived in the United States, said people such as Serote and Maredi were ‘a pot of wisdom from which we should all feed on while they live’.
She urged young up and coming creatives to take a leaf out of their books. “I wish young creatives can feed on these pots of wisdom to enrich their hunger for knowledge. I always curse the phrase, though seemingly true, that if you want to hide something from a black person, put it in a book.”
Thanking Serote for the donation, Pieterse said the collection of books he had donated would go a long way in helping the book club’s mentorship programme and research work being done on the yesteryear heroes such as Maredi, Ntemi Piliso, Zakes Nkosi, Hugh Masekela, the professor himself and many others.
For his part, Serote, who is patron of the book club and an Alexandrian, said his donation would not be a once-off affair.
Addressing the book club members Serote said, “Young people are looking up to you and I hope this book club will do justice to their thirst for knowledge and reading at the same time.”
Serote is an architect of the Freedom Park in Pretoria and the Alexandra Heritage Centre on 7th Avenue, previously known at conceptualisation as Nelson Mandela Museum.
