Zoyisile Norman Bafo is an author who has felt the need to start the Soweto Book Club in hopes of bringing the culture of reading to township areas that never had such initiatives before.
On July 12 Bafo brought together residents of Pimville at the Pimville Library to further give out information to learners about the book club and what it’s going to bring to the community.
The purpose of this book club is to foster the culture of reading to communities in Soweto and the place to start with is Pimville.
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This is to help residents understand how different people’s minds work and be able to access information and comprehend it with no challenges.
“I wanted to promote the culture of reading and I also wanted to contribute to the community because I have seen the need for people to start reading,” said Bafo, stating reasons why he started the book club.
“When people don’t read, they start doing all kinds of negative things like drinking. But reading keeps one busy and knowledgeable.”
The book club is a way to bring understanding to people that reading is not only for a certain class of people or people in the suburbs but it is for everyone who wants to do it.
An organisation called Activate donated books to the book club to help kick-start the first session.
One of the speakers, a civic education coordinator at Activate, Tebelelo Lentsoane said, “I think it’s a really cool concept to try and move the needle in the right direction of cultivating the culture of reading especially in communities like Soweto where predominantly we have noted a gap in terms of young people able to read for meaning.”
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At the book club, Bafo also spoke about the books she has written.
One of the attendants, his son, Andile Bafo spoke about his expectations coming into the book club launch.
“I expected to see people with books, maybe meet authors, and also see a lot of people coming from the community of Soweto but I understand that this was a development phase,” said Andile.
People who love reading and want to join the book club can go to the Pimville Library information desk and speak to the librarian, Khwezi Mkhize for more information and how to sign up.
They can also contact Zoyisile Norman Bafo on 067 731 5593 or bafonorman@yahoo.com.
The book club sessions will be held at the Pimville Library every second week of the month on Fridays from 13:00 to 15:00.
