Mountaineer Saray Khumalo, a Mandela Library ambassador, attended the library’s 7 June launch.
(Image: Robert Coutts)More than 2 300 books have lined the library shelves at Asithuthuke Combined School in Balgowan, KwaZulu-Natal, since the school received a Mandela Library on 7 June 2018.
The library was donated through the Nelson Mandela Foundation-endorsed Nelson Mandela School Library Project, aimed at getting books into disadvantaged schools across South Africa. The new Mandela comic book was given as a gift to the school.
Zambia-born mountaineer Saray Khumalo, a Mandela Library ambassador, and Peter Badenhorst, a cyclist participating in JoBerg2c’s Mandela Day Library Project, attended the library’s 7 June launch.
JoBerg2c, the longest mountain-biking stage race in South Africa, takes place over nine days. Riders have the additional option of raising funds for three projects, of which the library project is one.
Khumalo is bent on completing the seven summits challenge – summiting the highest mountain on each of the world’s seven continents. She does these climbs to raise funds for charities, including Nelson Mandela Foundation projects.
So far Khumalo’s attempts at reaching the top of the Himalayas’ Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, have been dogged by earthquakes, avalanches and extreme storms. In her latest attempt high winds stopped her 99m from the summit.
The launch was attended by representatives from the Department of Basic Education, the Mooi River Rotary Club, Michaelhouse Community Partnerships, the Mandela Library Project and the school’s headmaster.
Books were purchased from publisher Quali-Naledi and donated from the Rotary book depot in Bedfordview, Johannesburg.