A new library in Dimbaza, in the Eastern Cape, could be the beginning of a new chapter for the crime and drug-riddled community.

For the visually impaired, the community’s first public library means they no longer have to travel long distances and spend a lot of money in order to access much-needed information.

The facility, based in Dimbaza’s Moses Twebe Great Hall, is the first library for the community of approximately 22,000 people.

“This facility means that people from this community, who depend mainly on social grants, do not need to use money they can ill afford to get to Qonce for access to books,” said Phiwe Konzaphi. The grateful 28-year-old community activist says that most people in the area of her generation had never seen the inside of a library.

Konzapi was speaking to Scrolla.Africa shortly before the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture MEC Nonceba Kontsiwe officially handed over the library. It includes a mini library catering for blind people in Dimbaza, following a request from the Eastern Cape Braille and Print Institute.

Previously, blind people wishing to use a library would be transported to Qonce once a week to access a public library.

Kontsiwe said the library was mainly a response to a request from the blind and partially blind of Dimbaza who wanted to have a library where they could enrich their minds.

Yolani Rhongwana, a matric learner at Richard Varha SSS, said she was grateful for the gift of the library. It would help children like her with research for their homework and school projects, she said.

The MEC said schools in the area will also benefit. She also asked the community to partner with the government to safeguard the library.

“We’re here to encourage children to learn so that we eradicate illiteracy,” said Kontsiwe.

The MEC said she wanted to see the community producing a crop of PhDs and professors.

Picture above: The Dimbaza Library

Picture source: Supplied