IT STARTED WITH A GIFT

In a country where 80% of 10-year-olds can’t read for meaning, a thoughtful gift from Mary (right) to her colleague Zolisa has ended up helping two streets of children in a South African township regularly experience the joy of books | Photo: Ronelle de Villiers

When Zolisa paid the gift forward to children in her community, an informal reading club organically sprang up | Photo: Ronelle de Villiers

Zolisa Bunguza (55) grew up in the Eastern Cape, raised along with her five siblings by her aunts and grandmother, a domestic worker. She moved to Cape Town to finish her Matric at Intlanganiso Finishing School, then studied speech and drama at the University of Cape Town (UCT). For the past eight years she’s been the receptionist at the university’s Graduate School of Business (GSB). She has two adult children and a grandson, and lives in Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township

WHEN I TOLD MY COLLEAGUE Mary last year that my daughter had a little son called Sesam, she bought a brand new book for me to read to him called The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

My grandson loved that book from the very first day I read it to him. Every time I came home from work, he was like, ‘Mamma, the caterpillar!’ and got the book out. He’s only just 22 months old and can’t talk properly yet, but he understands that a book tells a story, and often gives me one and asks me to read to him.

Sesam,  his grandmother Zolisa and a very hungry caterpillar share a special moment 🙂 | Photo: Ronelle de Villiers

I invited the two little boys next door over for a reading of Caterpillar and they loved it too. Soon things spread to my whole street, and then to the next one! Now, every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, I read to about 30 children from 18 months to 16 years old. Each session lasts two hours but feels short. When I ask the children what they learnt from a story, they always answer. They’re so hungry to learn.

Not all the kids could read when I started, but today they’re competing with each other to learn to read and demonstrate their skill. Hlalumi, a little boy who couldn’t read before, recently read me a whole book! It had only two sentences per page but he read it fluently.

There’s an emotional benefit for the kids as well as an educational one. Many parents in our community only get home at 7pm and don’t have time to read to their kids so the children love the attention I can give them. Last Saturday I was unwell and wasn’t up to reading, but on Sunday I got up and went to my lounge, and there they were standing waiting!

Mary and some of our colleagues played a very crucial role. They got me a corner bookshelf and have sponsored books: about 150 so far! It’s wonderful. The kids started asking me if they could take books home to read on the weekend, so Mary came up with a library-card system for me to keep track of them. It works very well.

On Saturdays and Sundays, Zolisa reads in her Khayelitsha home to a growing group of around 30 neighbourhood children, from toddlers to teens. She also lends them books to take home | Photos: Ronelle de Villiers

I’ve now had offers of reading help from a neighbour, four colleagues at the GSB and a lady with whom I travel to work.

Here in Cape Town, I’ve met children aged 12 and even older who can’t read. I wish all South African children could be exposed to reading for pleasure because it builds language skills and exposes them to new words and new worlds. It teaches them about life, how to handle challenges, how to have empathy.

Zolisa’s neighbourhood. ‘I’ve met 12-year-olds and older who can’t read,’  she says. ‘I wish all South African children could  be exposed to reading for pleasure. The children are so hungry to learn.’ | Photo: Ronelle de Villiers

In 2010 I had a stroke, couldn’t walk properly, couldn’t wash myself, and my mouth was twisted so I couldn’t talk. But I spoke to God and told Him there was no way I could die without raising my children to take care of themselves. I believe that, thanks to Him, I was able to walk and talk within months. He is my hope in life in so many ways.

I grew up in a two-bedroom home with my grandmother and ten cousins and siblings. I loved the noise and chaos at home, where we’d share two slices of bread between the ten of us. I’m grateful that today I’m here, with a beautiful life and kids. As for the neighbourhood children, Jesus’ love for me has motivated me to love them in turn. Helping them, I’m overwhelmed with joy.”

Mary Lister (63) is the daughter of a land surveyor and teacher who grew up in Zimbabwe and majored in cultural history at UCT. She’s been a librarian for 40 years, 14 of them at the GSB. She has two adult children and lives in Claremont

I remember reading to my children even when they were teenagers. It was a lovely family time of sharing stories which doesn’t have to stop when your child learns to read. But, in South Africa, many parents have to leave home very early to travel far to work, and get home late so they don’t have time or energy to read to their children. The stats are scary: 80% of our 10-year-olds can’t read for meaning.

It’s fantastic how Zolisa has seen her grandson’s vocabulary and understanding of words develop, and that this has spilled out into her road and community with her reading club and library. Reading not only takes children into their imaginations and expands creativity as they enact stories and venture into magical worlds, but it gives them a vocabulary to express their feelings.

Reading gives children a vocabulary to express their feelings and opens the door to magical worlds, says Mary | Photo: Ronelle de Villiers

I’d love to encourage everyone to find out from employees, such as domestic workers, about their childcare situation, and whether their children have access to books.

If you do decide to give a book to a child, I’d say it’s important for it to be age-appropriate, not just something you’re clearing out of your house. If you can make it a new book, so much the better, as it demonstrates that you respect the person you’re giving it to, and make it slightly above the child’s reading level to expand their ability. Then keep encouraging the person you’ve given it to, and keep the conversation going. You’ll find the blessing and the joy extends in both directions as you start to appreciate the deeper relationship that forms.

‘The blessing of enabling a child to read extends in both directions,’ says Mary | Photos: Ronelle de Villiers

You can also encourage numeracy skills with inexpensive aids such as bottle tops. With these I showed Zolisa simple numeracy exercises: adding, subtracting and grouping by colour. The learning is invaluable and the possibilities are endless.

I hope Zolisa’s reading group will snowball into other groups. We just need to do the small bit we can, keep our eyes and our hearts open and trust in the difference it will make to those children’s lives.

I believe God often stirs us to make that difference, to have those ‘serendipitous’ conversations and encounters that don’t actually happen by chance at all.” ♦

A GSB student donated cushions for the reading-club children to sit on instead of a cold floor, and Mary’s daughter is covering them with fabric sourced from charity shops. ‘We just need to do the small bit we can,’ says Mary. ‘Keep our eyes and hearts open, and trust it will make a difference.’

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