A TINY library, gifted to the community of De Rust, hopes to not only broaden minds, but broaden smiles in this Klein Karoo town as well.
The Little Free Library (LFL) is a gift to the De Rust community from a local education non-profit organisation, Youth Potential South Africa, that set this up in partnership with Mengelmoeskardoes, the village antique shop. This innovative initiative makes the sharing of books easy, brings people together and grows communities.
As it is being a global movement, there are now more than 100 000 of these neighbourhood book exchange cabinets around the world, in 85 countries.
The De Rust LFL is only the sixth of its kind in South Africa, and the very first in the Klein Karoo. The Youth Potential South Africa (YOUPSA co-founder, Ray Schöne, designed and built the LFL cupboard himself, using recycled wood.
“Since we opened this Little Free Library in town, the response has been tremendous,” says Schöne. “People just love this innovative concept and feel really drawn towards it. We have had inquiries from far away, even tourists from abroad, who want to come and visit the Little Free Library.”
Located in the courtyard of the shop at 29 Schoeman Street the LFL is open during business hours for everyone to use and enjoy. If you see a book that you would like to read, you can take it home and then pass it on to a friend, or return it.
These books are always for free and never for resale.
Bibliophiles are also welcome to add a book or more for others to take and enjoy. The library contains a wide selection of topics, for all ages, something for everyone – in Afrikaans and English.
“This Little Free Library belongs to the whole community,” says Alexis Salaman, cofounder of YOUPSA. “I am sure that this will bring much joy, more connection and cohesion, as well as a whole lot more books to our community.”
The LFL in De Rust is the most recent project of YOUPSA in De Rust. They also offer weekly literacy and afterschool enrichment programmes for disadvantaged children in the area. On the farms and in the township they run many reading and literacy initiatives as well, not only to introduce children to books, but also inspire a love of reading.
“We love to make visitors to our village feel at home,” says the owner of Mengelmoeskardoes, Piet Smit.
“People can stop in to browse the shop and take a book while they are here. It is a wonderful addition to the other tourist attractions in and around our town.”
Little Free Library brings smiles to De Rust
Little Free Library De Rust OR Little Free Library with Piet Smit, owner of 'Mengelmoeskardoes' and Alexis Salaman, co-founder of the education non-profit Youth Potential South Africa. (Photo supplied)