In 2016, a community leader saw a gap for educational spaces. Nearly a decade later, libraries across Cape Town offer kids a safe place to learn. When community leader Terence Crowster was about 10 or 11 years old, he attended a youth programme at a clinic in his neighbourhood, Scottsville, in Kraaifontein.
A nurse who ran the programme noticed Crowster and singled him out as a leader. Crowster had always felt that he was different, and this nurse gave him an opportunity to be himself. This was a defining moment in his childhood.
“That was in my heart for all these years,” says Crowster. “Somebody gave me a chance.” Today, about 40 years later, Crowster sits at a table surrounded by books in Scottsville. The walls of the room are lined with bookshelves and the ceiling is decorated with children’s arts and crafts.
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The December heat hangs in the air, but Crowster seems completely unbothered. A number of children play on a mat in the centre of the room. This building is known as a hotspot library, which Crowster founded nearly a decade ago.
“I want to give all these kids a chance to see what they’re capable of, to see what they’ve been called to,” he says. Crowster opened the hotspot library to provide children with a safe space to learn. He says there are no other libraries in the area.
“The community is filled with other things that can take their attention away. There’s substance abuse, there is neglect, there is gangsterism,” says Crowster. “We offer the alternative to what they are used to, because most of the stuff is like a second skin to them.” When the library opened in 2016, it was a 3m x 6m shipping container that could only allow five children in at a time.
Through donations of books and bookshelves, as well as Crowster’s own money, the library has grown significantly. It now has more than 850 members and about 100 people attend every week. There are other such libraries in Franschhoek; in Vlottenburg, Stellenbosch; in Morningstar, Durbanville; and in De Novo, Kraaifontein. There are also plans for a library in Delft.
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