FORMER UCT international student David Kyle has founded an organisation that has so far collected 53 000 books for a community centre in Khayelitsha.

Books for Africa was set up in 1999 by Kyle, who volunteered as a SHAWCO Step tutor at the Khayelitsha K2 Centre, where there was a shortage of reading material. Through his organisation, Kyle raised awareness in his hometown of Hartfield in Connecticut and at his alma mater, Trinity College.

The response was overwhelming , and he collected 1 000 books in the first year.

According to Lara Hoffenberg, Manager of International Students at IAPO, donations doubled the following year and this year a whopping 50 000 books were received by SHAWCO on behalf of the Centre. According to Hoffenberg, Kyle says that collecting the books was the easy part, “securing funds for shipping them was more challenging”.

Kyle has also secured donations like computers, software and R60 000 from UCT Graduate School of Business students — who donated money they won in a local competition — to enhance the Centre.

SHAWCO Fundraiser spokesperson, Anna du Bois, says that the Centre is now in need of substantial alterations to accommodate the 50 000 books currently in storage. At present, the K2 facility houses the 3 000 books that were previously donated.

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