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Sarah Madingwane started the Daveyton Book Club in 2015 in her home's garage together with her friend Kwandile Sikhosana.
To date the club has built 14 libraries in different schools. Here is how their journey started.
The two pioneers decided to be of service to their community after they realised that people do not have information and that only a few individuals in their community were able to access to books.
“We wanted to have a place where we can start having conversations as a community and give books to schools, run book reviews, read and write,” Sarah says.
They then found donors who had mostly primary school books that they were willing to donate to the book club. As a result, the club's early work included donating books to primary schools.
However, they have since included high schools in their libraries project.
In building the libraries, they worked with the Rotary Club, Moja Love TV, and individuals who wanted to be part of improving the reading society.
Over time, the duo realised that their book club had grown immensely but it was not sustainable so they renamed it Rudo institute.
“When we started as Daveyton Book Club, the organization wasn’t sustainable because it solely relied on donations. The model wasn’t working financially, which is why we had to transition into Rudo Institute this year and have a more sustainable model which has different revenue streams. The name Daveyton Book Club was also very limiting because we had reached communities beyond Daveyton,” says Sarah.
The institution offers business development courses and has a creativity hub for our local entrepreneurs.
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Sarah says the courses are free for the students, however, there is a screening process.
“Our sole purpose for doing what we are doing is to educate people because we believe that education can liberate people,” Sarah says.
They do not only run the development course, but they also host a masterclass on mental illness where they invite experts to speak on the matter including doctors, neurologists, psychologists, and healers.
They have also planted 120 fruit trees in Daveyton for food security. “We partnered with the Department of Agriculture and gave out four trees per school for ten days. We had different fruits — peach, naartjie, and lemon," Sarah says.
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