Young and old came from Grahamstown, Alicedale and Riebeeck East to put their wits and reading skills to the test at Joza's Duna Library last Thursday.
Young and old came from Grahamstown, Alicedale and Riebeeck East to put their wits and reading skills to the test at Joza's Duna Library last Thursday.
Jointly organised by the Department of Education, Makana Municipality and the Department of Art, Culture, Sport and Recreation, the fun day saw school children and community elders pitting themselves against each other in a range of events, for a chance to represent their schools and districts, as part of South African Library Week from 17-24 March.
Adult presentations, unprepared reading and brainteasers were the competition categories, judged by a panel led by assistant director of library services in Makana Municipality, Patricia Vubela. Elders spoke on the theme of marriage and funerals. Grade 5 pupils did unprepared reading in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa.
The brainteasers, for Grade 10s, focused on general knowledge and culture. Winners from this competition will go to a district-level event in Jansenville tomorrow. The winners of that event will take part in a provincial competition in Port Alfred.
Vubela said as well as celebrating library week, the event was to encourage members of the community to use local libraries more often. “It is important to be a library member… whether you want to be a doctor or a pilot, you learn from books,” she said, addressing the crowd of learners and community members.
Ward 2 Councillor Nomathamsanqa Meti and her ward committee were there. She was excited about the competition and about South African Library Week. “We can’t live without libraries. In Makana we want each area to have a library, with the expected outcome of improved academic records, a restoration of culture and a reading nation,” she said.
She also emphasised the important role parents play in encouraging their children to go to local libraries. Dr Elna Barnard, deputy chief education specialist for Tele-collaborative Teaching at the education department, gave a motivational talk to the learners, illustrating how important reading is.
“How can we expect our children to read if we don’t read?” she asked parents and elders. We have to take our children by the hand. Now that your baby is grown, you can still read to them and let them share their reading with you.” The official launch of South African Library Week will be at the Don Africana Reference Library in Durban on 17 March.
Category winners in the Library Week competition at Duna Library * Elder storytelling: Jeanette Eve * Xhosa unprepared reading: Nolusindiso Qolohle * English unprepared reading: Bulelwa Matiwane * Afrikaans unprepared reading: Taithlynne Moodley * Brainteaser: Nomathembu Ndzengu
