The laundry room that became a reading centre
On Wednesday 25 April 2018 the Word4Word Reading Centre in the Matjiesrivier Valley opened its doors in a room more than three times the size of the one it had grown out of.
The centre began at Swartberg Country Manor, after Cobus van den Berg's film Klein Karoo was shot in these valleys and the question of how the children were reading refused to go away. The first space was small. As more children came, it became too small.
Next door stood the guesthouse laundry. It would have made a perfect reading centre, except that a new laundry would have to be built first, and that was out of reach. Hannelie Brand, a friend who lives in France, was visiting when she heard about the plan. She paid for the new laundry.
The old laundry room became a reading centre with close to a thousand books on its shelves, room enough for adults to come and learn to read too, and the means to employ a full-time teacher.
Eight years on, that thread still runs through everything that happens here.
The centre began at Swartberg Country Manor, after Cobus van den Berg's film Klein Karoo was shot in these valleys and the question of how the children were reading refused to go away. The first space was small. As more children came, it became too small.
Next door stood the guesthouse laundry. It would have made a perfect reading centre, except that a new laundry would have to be built first, and that was out of reach. Hannelie Brand, a friend who lives in France, was visiting when she heard about the plan. She paid for the new laundry.
The old laundry room became a reading centre with close to a thousand books on its shelves, room enough for adults to come and learn to read too, and the means to employ a full-time teacher.
Eight years on, that thread still runs through everything that happens here.
Get involved
Come on 8 November, or give what you can. Both build the same reading centre.
Who made this one happen
Swartberg Country Manor