VUT COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME LAUNCHES LIBRARY FACILITY AT TABITA CARE CENTRE, VEREENIGING
By Dr Christel Marais 14 June 2022
On Monday 6 June 2022, academic staff from the Vaal University of Technology’s Human Resources Management (HRM) Department demonstrated their commitment to community engagement by launching a library facility at the Tabita Care Centre in Vereeniging.
Tabita Centre residents were treated to a day packed with activities, discussions, gifts and entertainment.
Planning towards this initiative commenced in 2021 when Dr Christel Marais reached out to the Tabita Centre. Since then, Dr Marais has coordinated several interactions between VUT and the centre.
The brand-new library facility is evidence of many hours of hard work and planning, initiated to support the centre’s informal schooling process.
Various resource collections should contribute towards improving general knowledge, mathematical, reading and writing skills. Also, residents will benefit from expanding their vocabulary, basic information literacy skills and stimulating interests in different subject fields.
The Tabita community engagement project drew from the skills, experiences, and cooperation of academics from the HRM department as well as from Dr Karien du Bruyn from the Gold Fields library at VUT.
A special note of appreciation goes out to the Vaal Mall and CUM Books in Vanderbijlpark, and all community members around the Vaal for their generous book and stationery donations. The VUT’s Advancement and Internationalisation department also added to the day’s success by donating beanies to every resident.
Ongoing cooperation between VUT and the Management Team at Tabita Care Centre has already ensured the success and effectiveness of this partnership.