Youth Empowerment through Reading

“Reading in our future” was the theme for the first dialogue organised by African Flavour Bookstore on Saturday at their gallery in Vanderbijlpark.

Prof Gordon Zide with attendee

The purpose of this was to empower young people to read, and through reading, hopefully discover solutions for a better future. It was also to give them an opportunity to discuss topics that are important to them.

Prof. Gordon Zide, the former VUT Vice Chancellor as the keynote speaker, brought with him a wealth of knowledge in African history and politics and said that young people too can acquire through reading. He said that to read is to empower yourself. Through reading, the Prof said young people can get to appreciate the role played by legends like Steve Biko and Mapetla Mohapi. He said young people need to capacitate their minds like Steve Biko, even though he had no formal qualification, his mind was far ahead of his oppressors even though he was young. The audience appreciated empowering stories he shared of heroes such as Gatya Buthelezi and Robert Sobukwe amongst many others. The youth were advised to read more, and not only the books they appreciate, but also the ones that they do not feel comfortable with in order to develop intellectually.

Amongst the attendees were local writers and older book lovers. Mr Fortiscue Helepi, the organizer and store co-owner said he has been thinking about this for a long time seeing such people and could not let them go away with wisdom that could be valuable to young people, hence they formed part of the dialogue. In the discussions, many agreed with Prof. about bringing back oral tradition to discuss more about issues affecting young people. Like in the olden days where elders sat under the tree and shared knowledge with them, and better today we can share such discussions on Youtube to reach more young people. The other young man expressed the importance of reading as he recently read one of Zakes Mda’s books and was amazed by the knowledge that could have been inaccessible to him had it not been through reading. Attendees also appreciated the intimate session with Prof Zide as the likes of him are hard to access.

It was concluded that knowledge acquiring and sharing is important. Mr Helepi quoted Nelson Mndela saying “We need to free ourselves from ignorance”.