THOUSANDS of library books donated in Scotland are helping to transform the lives of disadvantaged youngsters in South Africa.

In the past three years more than 21,000 books have made the journey from Glasgow to Cape Town, donated by schools, libraries and individuals for libraries in black and mixed race areas of South Africa that were deprived of them under apartheid.

The books, enough to create three new libraries, are hugely important as two decades after Nelson Mandela completed his long walk to freedom, more than 90% of schools in his homeland are still without libraries.

The project, based in on old barn on the south side of Glasgow, is led by Claire Bell, a British-born South African.

Ms Bell and a team of volunteers have been collecting and cataloguing books and shipping them to The Bookery, an NGO in Cape Town that is creating school libraries in the Western Cape and training teachers and librarians to administer them.

They take fiction and non-fiction books for age 5 through to 18 and any adult books are sold at a monthly book sale for £1 each to help pay for the shipping to South Africa.

"Many of South Africa's poorest communities still don't have access to quality education. Books helped me escape the narrow confines of an apartheid childhood, and I hope that by building school libraries we can help disadvantaged children escape from apartheid's long shadow," said Ms Bell.

The shadow lingers over Khayelitsha, a sprawling shantytown near Cape Town airport. But amid the poverty and deprivation, there are seeds of hope.

They are being nurtured, behind a high wire fence,in a modern brick building echoing to the sound of children's laughter. The Xhosa name of Soyisile Primary School translates as 'we have overcome', which sums up the school's status as an ambitious seat of learning amid the squalor that surrounds it.

In 2012 it acquired its first library with the help of The Bookery, a container load of books from Scotland, and pupils from a multi-racial High School in Cape Town who pitched in to help convert a classroom and contribute more books.

Principal Meisie Mafu is delighted with the result. "We are trying our best to overcome the past. The library is a huge asset for us. Our learners are really enjoying it. I am smiling now, because it is a joy to see them so happy with books."

Before the library was established, the exam pass rate at Soyisile was 15%. Within a year of it opening, the success rate had more than doubled to 39%.

"We have a long way to go, but the library is helping us to get there," says Meisie. "Children's knowledge is the future of our country, and it is wonderful to have people so far away being part of our project."

l Anyone interested in donating books or volunteering can visit www.theoldbarn-glasgow.co.uk or contact Gillian Russell on 0775 721 4523.