Roodepoort City Hall and the Asthukanga Foundation have partnered to create a book club for children. Roodie-Kids has been launched to encourage children (from age six to 12) to explore and understand books.
The idea was implemented by five friends: Thabang Mothoa, Xolani Mdluli, Nico Visage, Thabo Radebe, and Elsie Mphahlele. These dedicated members of the Asthukanga Foundation (NPC) joined forces with Mosa Mabunda, the Manager of City Hall, to start this reading initiative.
Thabo explained that this book club aims to help children become interested in reading, which will help with their spelling, grammar, and understanding of words. “More and more children are failing to read and write. The problem might be poor early childhood development, however, we also believe one of the main causes is the neglect of the culture of reading and engaging in books at an early age.”
Roodie-Kids is trying to teach young children creative methods of understanding the passages they read in books. This is why flyers and posters were distributed throughout Roodepoort as invitations for the launch of the book club.
On 10 September, more than 50 excited children gathered at die City Hall in the Roodepoort CBD, with their invitations. After a short registration and lunch, the book club launch began. The parents and children were informed about the benefits that this book club would have, and why they should start reading.
The beautiful launch lasted for about 30 minutes, and as the children left they were each given thank you cards. The cards were used as a tool to spark the interest of the children in writing greeting cards and printing them.
Roodie-Kids is hoping to help the children begin reading and writing with confidence. The launch was a success; children were interested and parents seemed to be ecstatic with its formation. “We believe that these gatherings will give our children confidence in class, challenge them, and build their self-esteem,” said one of the parents, Tumelo Mokhethi. “We can’t wait to see our children excelling and even writing their own books in the near future.”
