Turning Pages, Shaping Futures: SANZAF Partners with We Love Reading to Inspire a Culture of Reading
Books can open doors to imagination, strengthen language and communication, encourage curiosity and help children see possibilities beyond their immediate surroundings. But nurturing a lifelong love of reading requires more than simply placing a book in a child’s hands. It requires enthusiastic educators, engaging storytellers and communities that make reading an experience children genuinely look forward to.
Recognising the important role educators and community leaders play in shaping young minds, SANZAF partnered with We Love Reading to host an engaging literacy workshop for educators, madrasah teachers and community leaders on 24 July 2026 at the EMIRIS Nelson Mandela Bay Campus in Gqeberha.
The workshop equipped participants with practical tools and storytelling techniques they can take back into their classrooms, madrasahs and communities, extending the impact of a single training session to potentially reach many more young readers.
About We Love Reading: Changing Mindsets Through Reading
We Love Reading is an international, research-informed programme dedicated to fostering a love of reading for pleasure among children.
The programme operates under the patronage of Taghyeer, an independent nonprofit organisation founded in Amman, Jordan. Its model is simple yet powerful: local women, men and youth are trained to become reading ambassadors who regularly read aloud to children in community spaces.
Rather than focusing solely on teaching children how to read, We Love Reading seeks to help children want to read.
Its approach is designed to be simple, sustainable and scalable, while giving communities ownership by equipping local people to lead reading activities themselves. Today, We Love Reading has spread to more than 71 countries, with thousands of We Love Reading libraries established around the world.
At the heart of its philosophy is the belief that small actions can create far-reaching change, a principle that resonates deeply with SANZAF’s commitment to education and sustainable community development.
Equipping the People Who Shape Young Minds
Gathered at the EMIRIS Nelson Mandela Bay Campus, the workshop brought together educators, madrasah teachers and community leaders united by a common purpose: helping children build a meaningful and lasting relationship with books.
Advocate Mahomed Vahed, Literacy Ambassador with the Department of Basic Education and representative of the Young Leaders Academy, facilitated the programme.
Through an engaging and practical approach, Advocate Vahed demonstrated techniques participants could use to make reading more exciting, interactive and meaningful for learners.
The workshop focused on three key areas:
- Practical techniques to nurture a love of reading and encourage children to engage enthusiastically with books.
- Supporting literacy development by helping educators create positive and stimulating reading experiences.
- Building a stronger culture of reading within schools, madrasahs, homes and broader communities.
Participants explored how the way a story is shared can transform reading from a classroom exercise into something memorable, an experience filled with curiosity, imagination and connection.
Why a Love of Reading Matters
Literacy is foundational to a child’s educational journey, but the value of reading extends far beyond academic achievement.
When children engage regularly with books, they encounter new words, ideas, people and perspectives. Reading can expand vocabulary, strengthen comprehension and encourage children to ask questions, imagine possibilities and express themselves with greater confidence.
This is why empowering educators is so important.
One educator equipped with effective techniques can influence an entire classroom. A madrasah teacher can introduce those techniques to another group of learners. A community leader can create spaces where children gather around stories.
The impact begins to multiply.
By investing in the adults who guide children, SANZAF is helping to create environments where reading is not experienced simply as another task to complete, but as something children can enjoy and carry with them throughout their lives.
From a Workshop to a Reading Culture
The true measure of this initiative will not only be found in what participants learned on the day, but in what happens afterwards.
It will be found when an educator brings a story to life in the classroom.
When a madrasah teacher makes time for children to discover the joy of books.
When a reluctant reader becomes curious about the next page.
And when that curiosity develops into a lifelong habit of learning.
Creating a culture of reading is not achieved overnight. It grows through consistent, intentional moments - one educator, one story and one child at a time.
Through collaborations such as this, SANZAF continues to invest in education as a powerful means of empowerment and sustainable community upliftment.
We extend our heartfelt appreciation to We Love Reading, Advocate Mahomed Vahed and every educator, madrasah teacher and community leader who participated with such enthusiasm and commitment.
May the knowledge shared continue to travel beyond the workshop, into classrooms and communities, inspiring children to discover the wonder held within the pages of a book.
Because when we help a child fall in love with reading, we do more than develop a reader, we open the door to a lifetime of learning.
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