Imbali Rise NPO
We are a passionate group of four women who believe that reading for pleasure is important for personal development, social awareness, civic engagement, empathy and creativity.
Imbali Rise NPO's Our Bookshelf project is aimed at bringing literature to a public space near you. It is important to us that literature of all genres, poetry, philosophy and science are accessible free of charge to young and old in an open, safe and welcoming space. Literature is a door to ideas and imagination beyond the confines of our physical location.
Our public parks, community centres and transport hubs provide perfect, untapped literary havens. A place that brings strangers together in a community of bibliophiles.
Mission
"You can find magic, wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book." - Dr Seuss
Our Commitment to Readers
Imbali Rise NPO promotes a rights-based culture, which entails encouraging our communities to be active in improving their lives and public spaces, and in holding government to account through participative processes and sustained social dialogue.
Literacy and an abundance of accessible reading materials are central to this outcome. The goal is a democracy that celebrates diversity, where respect for the views and beliefs of others is the norm. We seek to nurture solidarity between people from different social groups through the rich experience literature, poetry and storytelling provides.
The key to realising our goal is to ensure that the access we facilitate includes books in our local South African and African languages. The richness of learning about other people and cultures so often lies in the beauty and nuance of one's mother tongue. We aim to promote authors publishing in local languages and to provide a platform to distribute their works.
We raise funds to purchase children's books and novels in South African and African languages for free distribution in our bookshelves.
Our Bookshelf remains yours to curate. An opportunity to share your books for strangers to discover and love, but also to pick a new book for your own reading pleasure.
Our Team
This is the team of four that are the driving force behind Imbali Rise NPO. Together we represent a range of different industries and experience but with a love for spreading literacy within our communities.
