by Tommy TrenchardJun, 27 2021
Terence Crowster, a development worker who has been an avid reader since he was young, solicited donations to start the Hot-Spot Library in Scottsville, Cape Town, so kids would have a safe place to connect with books. Image: Tommy Trenchard for NPR
They call it the Hot-Spot library: a ramshackle building of plywood and sheet metal set on a crime-ridden street corner in Cape Town, South Africa. With its threadbare couches and mismatched carpets, the place looks somewhat dilapidated. On winter days, rain leaks through holes in the corrugated zinc roof and drips down onto the tables and bookshelves.