This Japanese “lady”, a library bus, came to the shores of Cape Town in 2006. she was donated to the WCED by Together with Africa and Asia Association (TAAA), a Japanese NPO with the aim to continue with its work as a mobile library in Japan, here in South Africa, Pinky, named after the pink elephant emblem on its side panel, is the first urban mobile school library in the country. But Pinky still looked very Japanese, so one of our main concerns was the respraying and branding of the bus, which was branded in Japanese and needed to be customised for EDULIS.

One of the EDULIS employees pointed us in the direction of Northlink College for assistance in this regard. We contacted Mr. Nathan Peake (Automotive Body Repairs Workshop) and after a number of meetings and discussions, we agreed that Northlink College would respray and brand the bus free of charge. EDULIS had to provide for the material.

The Northlink team and students were as exited as the EDULIS staff to get the job done and even sacrificed their weekends in order to see this project through, which was then completed within four weeks time. At the end the College contributed even more than what we agreed to.

We were enchanted by the end product and our sincere gratitude and appreciation go to Northlink College for their hard work and support. With the brand new look, the staff members feel re-energised and enthusiastic and very proud when we drive into Khayelitsha and park at a school to deliver our service.

Pinky has turned out to be a real attraction and crowd pleaser.

Thank you Northlink. “Dis ? bakgat bus!”

Now EDULIS staff will need new outfits for when we go out with the bus!

* EDULIS, the Education Library and Information Service of WCED, delivers a much needed library support service to ten schools through its Mobile School Library Service project in Khayelitsha.

Compiled by Rose Damon and Timothy Cloete form EDULIS

Comments from the students working on this community project were as follows:

“It was a very great experience and very challenging. We learned more about team work and it was fun to work a bit as a team. It was a very tough project, but the fact is that the vehicle was so huge! Made us work twice as hard.”

“We had a good learning experience – to prove to ourselves that we have what it takes!. We were glad to know the project was for educational use; that's why we've done our best to attract the youth by our skill on the project.”

“It was very good to know that we worked on an imported vehicle. We are proud of our end results – very impressed with ourselves! We think in the future we will take on another community project if the opportunity arises.”

“Thank u for trusting us and our abilities!”

Students who worked on the project were Garth-Lee Thomas, Alvino Arnolds, Jamian Jonas, Donovan Petersen and Kurt Cornelius

René Bonzet