This free national audio library service would not have been possible without their partnership with the SA Post Office who delivers all literature for the blind and print-handicapped free of charge.

Since its inception, the SA Post Office has distributed and returned all literature from the Tape Aids main circulation library to thousands of its members. A huge undertaking when one considers that approximately 2000 audio books per day are collected by the SA Post Office from the Durban main library and delivered across the country. An equal number are collected from Post Offices across the far corners of South Africa and returned to Tape Aids on a daily basis, all free of charge.

“The SA Post Office is proud to be able to assist such a laudable organisation and we aim to continue working hand-in-hand with Tape Aids to serve the blind communities for a long time to come,” says SA Post Office managing executive of mail business, Janras Kotsi.

Tape Aids packs their individually addressed audio literature into large rolltainers which are collected daily by the Post Office where they are sorted via region and postal code and delivered directly to the members’ addresses. After members have finished listening to their audio books and magazines, they return them to their nearest Post Offices so that they can be returned to the main circulation library.

The hardworking postmen and women go the extra mile by going out of their way to deliver and fetch the tapes from those members with special needs – especially those in smaller towns, stated Tape Aids operational manager, Karen Alberts.

With approximately 5000 South African members as well as a host of out-of-country members the SA Post Office has for the last 55 years ensured that these vulnerable yet avid readers get to enjoy the written word in spoken form.

“We are extremely grateful to the SA Post office for assisting us over the years in achieving our goal of using the spoken word to open up whole new worlds for our members," said Tape Aids for the Blind national director, Elza-Lynne Kruger.

The organisation has branches and service centres located throughout South Africa where its over 600 volunteer narrators and proof readers transform the silent page to the spoken word through the recording of books and educational literature. Tape Aids serves readers of all ages, from its youngest members of two years to the oldest members being 108 years (18 of their members are over 100 years of age!).

Tape Aids for the Blind in partnership with the SA Post Office is committed to dispensing information and literature freely to all South Africans marginalized by their disabilities, helping them to take their place in society alongside their sighted peers and restoring their dignity, and in so doing, empowering them to pay-it-forward and make a difference in the lives of their able bodied fellow citizens, helping to collectively created informed and educated communities.