A 10-YEAR-OLD boy from Brackenhurst ventured into the Phola Park squatter camp to deliver reading books to the Enochayini School, a primary school catering for pupils from grade R to 7 in the area.
Sheldon Spear, a pupil at Waterstone College, describes himself as a bookworm and loves comedy stories. “But I realised that there are many kids out there who simply don’t have the privileges I have, so I decided to try and do something that can hopefully make a difference.”
With the help of his mom, Adele Spear, this remarkable young man started a Facebook page, “Need 2 Read”, through which he appeals for the donation of books. The project kicked off in April last year and since then, Sheldon has already distributed over 2 500 books donated through his Facebook page, to schools catering for the less fortunate.
“Most of the books cater for grade 4 and 5 children,” he says. But among his collection are encyclopedias, text books, fiction stories and reference books.
Sheldon was accompanied by the AMCARE Centre of Faith, Hope & Love’s social workers, who were instrumental in identifying the need for books in the communities.
The school’s library will be reasonably well stocked after this donation, but says principal Mrs Sindiswa Maphoso: “We can really make good use of someone who can assist us in implementing a proper library system, categorising the books and developing a system for the lending and returning of books.”
If anyone can assist with this, kindly call social work manager at AMCARE, Marihet Infantino, on 079 903 9660 or 011 869 5856.