What began as a seed sown into fertile soil four years ago has now blossomed into the Sozo Foundation Youth Library, a fully-fledged space dedicated to nurturing a love for reading. This dream was fuelled by a deep hope, to see more young people reading with passion, inspired by new ideas, and starting high school with strong foundations.
On Wednesday 26 February the Sozo Foundation officially launched the Sozo Foundation Youth Library for the Vrygrond community.
“The library is now accessible to young people in our programmes. Remarkably, this is the only library available in the Vrygrond community. We at the foundation believe education is the movement from darkness to light,” says Kristin Rockhill, education director at Sozo Foundation.
The past few years have been a turbulent time for education in South Africa, with the pandemic exacerbating existing challenges for learners, families and schools. Many are still struggling to recover from the setbacks, making it more crucial than ever to provide opportunities that foster learning. With South Africa’s drop-out rate remaining significantly high everyone must work together to change this trajectory.
“In our community we see a concerning number of high school learners facing major foundational gaps, particularly in English and mathematics,” said Rockhill. “According to the PIRLS study 81% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning. This has a direct impact on high-school s(learners), many of whom enter Grade 8 with limited reading comprehension and fundamental subject knowledge. We believe that cultivating a love for reading and encouraging regular reading habits will enhance literacy skills, improve reading comprehension across subjects and, ultimately, contribute to higher school retention and graduation rates.
“Stepping into the Sozo Youth Library, words that come to mind are: Safe. Inspiring. Fresh. Peaceful. Open doors. This space is designed to ignite young minds, spark imagination and foster a deep love for reading. Our hope is that, through books, young people in our programmes will discover new worlds, develop critical thinking skills and experience joy in their learning journeys.” She praised the dedication of the Sozo team, the power of prayer, generous donations and an unwavering commitment to realising this dream.
“We give God all the glory. We also extend our heartfelt gratitude to Biblionef for donating beautiful books, UrbanDigital for the library wallpaper, Digicape the digital tablets, Puco and Mweb for paint, brushes and the necessary materials, Loxion Library for joining us in this literacy mission and donating books, Moeneeb Hartzenberg and Cecil John and their team for their library design, showing such creativity and dedication, and our incredible tribe of volunteers for painting, sorting books, cleaning and creating murals.
“Dr Seuss wisely said, ‘The more you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” May this library serve as a passport to endless possibilities for the young people of Vrygrond!
For more: 021 825 5529 or 083 402 5563.
