A Cape Flats dad, who dedicated his life to inspiring children to read by converting his garage into a library, has won another award, this time the Afrikaanse Taalraad award 2016.
Last week, John Nicholson, 50, and his wife Gail were flown to Pretoria where he was awarded the Afrikaanse Taalraad Beskronings-Geleentheid, 2016.
John was nominated among eight others for promoting Afrikaans reading in his community.
In September, John, who is an upholster and a dad of two, also won the AKTV Woordveertjie award for promoting reading and Afrikaans and other languages.
In March, the Daily Voice brought you the heartwarming story of the Hillview resident, who had over 5000 books at his home, which he stored in his garage and inside a container that had been converted into a library.
John began his project “Omegaview” 10 years ago and uses the space to help community children with reading, homework and he even feeds them.
After John’s story went viral on social media, he received thousands of books as donations and even visits by local ministers.
The Daily Voice story, posted on Facebook, received 6000 comments by the public who were inspired by John’s story.
Yesterday John expressed his excitement and appreciation after receiving another award: “God is good, I want to say thank you to the Afrikaans Taalraad for giving me this award.
“We were nominated, seven to eight of us, because we are promoting Afrikaans in the community.
“The CEO of AKTV, Japie Gouws did the nomination.
“We feel so blessed and magnificent.”
Dr Conrad Steenkamp, the head of the Afrikaanse Taalraad, says John is an inspiration for encouraging reading and feeding needy children.
John was also blessed with 10 bicycles from CycleWorks in Woodstock, along with 10 helmets and 10 set of gloves on Friday, to start his own cycling club.