Every afternoon to the delight of his young visitors, Pastor John opens the doors of his backyard library.. . Inside are rows upon rows of books from fairy tales to encyclopedias.
“The reading and the literacy of the children that come to the library in the afternoon has increased and this is what we want for their future is that they must become intelligent children so that when they grow up one day if it’s God’s will and they go and find a job and their future; that their future must be bright because it starts now already,” said Pastor John Nicholson, Library Founder
Pastor John lives in Lavender Hill, a township in Cape Town. Unemployment is rife here and the area is notorious for drugs and gang violence. He started out with just 25 books and would place duvets and blankets on the ground so the children would have somewhere to sit. Today, he has collected over 5000 books.
“This is exactly what he is doing, keeping the youngsters so busy they don’t have time to roam the streets, to sit in a yard, it’s to keep them away, to say to them, you can regardless of the fact that you are from Lavender Hill, poverty stricken, underdeveloped a disadvantaged area but nothing must stop the youth from reaching their ultimate goal,” said Dan Plato, Provincial Minister for Safety, Western Cape Government
The library now attracts children from migrant families in the neighbourhood.
“We will have children from Zimbabwe, we have children from Somalia, we had Somalian children here as well, we have had children from the DRC out of Africa that moves into the are because of the expansion of our area and they would move in with different families in the area and they would come to the library in the afternoon and we would see to it that they have a book in their own language,” said Pastor John
The library has become a lifeline for many of the children who come here. Pastor John hopes by giving them a love for reading, the children not only improve their literary skills but also gain a sense of purpose and avoid gangs and violence.
