Levina opens the library at 10am every day except Thursday and Sunday and Public Holidays. To become a member at any of the HCL branches it costs children $5 dollars per quarter (double for adults and there is a concession for the over 60's) or $20 for the whole year if you can pay for your children up front. If you are a tertiary level student you only pay $1 per month!
The Library has a smashing little children's section. A nook to the right as you go in. At the moment there are three tables and chairs for students to study quietly but on Fridays we hope to convert it into a reading corner with a rug and some cushions. This will be open to all children, members or not, and will also be a first for the Library (in recent history anyways).
To get geared up for a hopeful second term start, Levina went to visit the schools in the local area. Alfred Beit, Haig Park and Hallingbury Primary Schools are all nearby. With the help of an official letter to be sent out soon to the school heads, fingers crossed, they will support the programme and spread the word about this community outreach. The library serves Greencroft, Haig Park, Sunridge, Ashdown Park, Meyrick Park, St Andrews Park, Haig Park, Sentosa and Cotswald Hills and reaches beyond to the neighbouring suburbs of Avondale, Belvedere and Marlborough.
It is no wonder this library gets overlooked. The grass is half as tall as the building!! However, with time, patience and a lot more effort perhaps together we can help this little lady get her dignity back. Come on, spread the word.
On the reading front, at Mount Pleasant MANY stories were told. Jeannette took the children through their paces with a story from the 1001 Arabian Nights, the Classic, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and finished up with the Enid Blyton short story The Enchanted Gloves. 
Everyone wanted to read this week so we did a bookshelf sprint and voted for the best 3 choices and read aloud. It took time but this opportunity for interaction and participation by the children is as important as the story telling. I managed to squeeze in The Little Lost Goat from the little library series before socks and shoes were put back on and weekend books were checked out. But two young ladies remained.
'Please read us just one more story!' they pleaded, wide eyed, endearing and exactly why I do this.
So I read them Cockadoodle-do, Mr Sultana! ( a story to read or tell for just £1 by Michael Morpurgo - now there is a challenge for us - can our Zimbabwe writers and publishers produce short read aloud children stories for a dollar or two each...now THAT I am interested in. They don't have to be fancy or robustly bound.)
We began the story with many empty chairs between and around us from those that had already gone. As we read, we scooted ever closer. By the end of the story my listeners were leaning forward and our knees were touching.
Please supply more details on how l can register to be a reader.
ReplyDeleteHello Stha, hope the current post helps answer your query. If you share your contact details with your local library we will get back to you. Once we have a group of volunteers at a library we can start. We are in the process of notifying the schools, so one thing volunteers might need to help with is spreading the word at community level too. We might need to have a poster making session over April. Or giving out flyers at the shops. it is all down to those involved.
ReplyDeleteHello this library fuelled my love for literature, I would like to help the library especially by getting books or whatever materials the library might need. Are there any drives currently being run to get books?
ReplyDelete