by KRISTIN ENGEL
Cape Town - The VUSA Rugby Academy will encourage literacy and make reading more accessible for children with the launch of a new mobile tuk-tuk library in Langa.
The tuk-tuk will visit the three early childhood development centres in Langa from Monday to Friday every week, to share puzzles and stories with the children at Nomonde, Dalekhanyo and Gege’s crèches, aiding in their development, as it promotes numeracy and literacy through play.
Brendan Fogarty, the founder and director of the VUSA Academy, said these initiatives really made a difference for the children in the poverty-stricken communities in which VUSA often worked.
“It is an incredibly powerful vehicle. It creates excitement, discipline, engagement, a sense of community, promotes academic activity and culture. We want to nurture well-rounded children to become the powerful leaders of tomorrow.
“Reading is such a vital part of who we are, and so often we take it for granted that everyone can read and that everyone has access to reading. The reality in South Africa at the moment is that reading ages and the ability to read and understand is much lower than they should be.
“And if you battle to read, you cannot achieve in school. So we are hoping that this vehicle and the contents of it will start inculcating in our kids a love of reading.
“We are hoping this access will get kids to enjoy reading at a young age.”
Lungile Moferi, the driver of the mobile library, says the initiative was particularly important to him, as he struggled in his youth to communicate efficiently and thus made it a point to always read to his child with his wife, and now he has the pleasure of reading and sharing the experience with his grandchild.
“I read to the children first in isiXhosa, so they are able to connect the actions to English words when I read the story to them in English. By consistently engaging with them, the children are able to gain confidence in their communication and literacy.”
“Lungile is a wonderful man, and as a father himself he’s brought that special element to our reading programme. His interaction with the children is proactive and is a massive part of what this is all about - so much of doing this work is the ability to connect with the children,” says Fogarty.
Cape Argus