In a community hall in Soweto, children crowd around a volunteer reading aloud. Their eyes widen; their parents listen too. It’s not just a story hour, it’s a reclamation of calm in a world of sirens and screens.

Grassroots literacy clubs are sprouting again after years of neglect. Retired teachers open their doors, parents pool small donations, and local sponsors fill the shelves. Each borrowed book becomes a torch passed hand to hand.

Publishers note a rise in demand for children’s and second-hand books. Donations are flowing from individuals, not government schemes, a reminder that civic renewal often starts at the kitchen table, not at a Cabinet meeting.

Every story read is a seed of order in the mind of a child. From these pages, a nation may yet relearn how to think.

Books cannot fix the grid or the state, but they can light the human spirit. That, in South Africa today, is power enough.