Denise

Librarian story makes compelling reading.

It's hard to recover from the loss of your childhood years, but from her mid-teens, Denise became responsible for bringing up her younger siblings. The oldest of four children, her father died when in his early forties after a life of drug dependence and her mother was a heroin user and deemed incapable of bringing up her own children. This brought an end to Denise's eduction.

The responsibility was immense and she struggled to do life. She chose to queue with hundreds of others at the Goal50 feeding programme in Heideveld and there she shared her struggles with the charity's team. The government agreed to offer support for her siblings which freed up Denise to return to school to successfully complete her studies. She also worked as a teaching assistant in a township school.

Some months after graduating, she found herself the most perfect opportunity. Libraries had been removed from township schools since 1994 and the charity worked hard to have them re-introduced. This happened at St Mary's School in 2016. Chief librarian is Denise, she sees this as her perfect job.