Books boost for Nal’ibali

South Africa’s reading-for-enjoyment campaign received a big boost this week when Global Citizen Africa handed over 2,600 children’s storybooks to Nal’ibali’s Story Power in Motion programme at an event at the Ikageng Library in Soweto.

Global Citizen is an international online community of activists advocating for some of the world’s greatest challenges.

During July and August, Global Citizen Africa led a literacy drive, the #TurnthePage campaign, to raise the level of literacy among SA children.

One objective of the campaign was to help children access quality reading materials.

Global Citizen partnered with Nal’ibali, whose Story Power in Motion programme operates mobile libraries in SA townships, to help reach more children without access to reading materials.

Global Citizen, Nal’ibali and Exclusive Books teamed up to launch a pop-up library in July at the Mall of Africa.

The mall acted as the campaign’s hub for book donations and nearly 3,000 books were collected during the drive.

The #TurnthePage campaign ended with a massive event on World Literacy Day, where Global Citizen officially handed over the books.

The entire consignment was gifted to Story Power in Motion to distribute via the mobile library programme.

The tuk-tuks operate in selected townships in KwaZuluNatal, the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape and Gauteng.

Nal’ibali managing director Jade Jacobsohn thanked Global Citizen for the donation and said there were so few books in the homes of the average South African child, and that most parents rarely read to their children.

“This is a reality that Nal’ibali is firmly committed to changing, because access to books and stories is integral to a literate society,” she said.

The donation of books will be shared with the Ikageng Library.