Books and books and books, oh my! - Books for Africa

Books have been a large part of my life since I can remember. From reading dinosaur books in kindergarden, to Goosebumps in middle school, to the Harry Potter craze which took over everyone I knew. Animorphs, Sideways Stories From Wayside School, Amelia Bedelia The Indian in the Cupboard; I’m sure I could list so many more series and authors given time to reminisce. There were book fairs, and reading competitions, and excited children's librarians, and well stocked libraries. There was Reading Rainbow. There were spelling bees and writing competitions and poetry slams.

As an adult it continues to amaze me how much I can enjoy from the new fiction books coming out, and how much I can learn from all the non-fiction: biographies, histories of conflict, histories of countries, and more, as well as poetry, essays, and well written news articles.

My parents passed on to me a tradition of reading, and in doing so opened up infinite worlds and information.

None of that exists in Uganda.

There are no favorite Ugandan authors, Ugandan book series which everyone talks about, or children who grow up reading books which are written for them. There are no reading clubs or national literacy drives (though we are working on that!) or well known organizations who go out to rural areas to improve literacy. There are no book clubs or newsletter clubs, and there is a general lack of printed material at all in rural areas.

The literacy rate in Uganda is around 70%, but that doesn’t really tell you the scope of the problem.

There are barely any libraries at schools. English class is more focused on grammar and repetition than hands on activities or helping kids learn to read. Phonics is pretty much non-existent.

Part of Peace Corps Uganda’s Education program is to help create or expand libraries and ICT centers.

Myself and nineteen other volunteers are trying to do that for our schools. We are working with an organization called Books for Africa which sends new books to needy places. The books are free, but we need to raise money for the shipping costs. Each dollar we raise means a book put in a primary school or teacher’s college library. 20,000 books! Each school gets 1000 for their library.

When the books arrive, we’re going to have trainings with our staff and students. Trainings on how to handle books, for example, such a "simple" skill that most Western kids would wonder why we are bothering. But kids here do not grow up with people around them reading. Many of their parents are illiterate. We teach how to open and close the books, how to use the table of contents and index, how to store the book, and how to treat the books so they will last a long time. Trainings on how to improve library storage and maintenance, and most importantly, how to set up systems of reading which will continue long after we the volunteers have left.

We are trying to impart the reading culture all of us loved as children to the children here in our villages. We all heard growing up that education and reading are gateways to better lives, and because most of us knew how to read and had decent education, we took it for granted. But here, we see it in action. Children like to learn. You just have to let them.

Here are some current pictures of my library.

Don't be fooled by the number of books you see!!! Many of these books are outdated curriculums, outdated sets of science books, outdated math books (sensing a theme here?). They rarely, if ever, get used, but they stay here because there is a culture of having things, but not using them. This is why we want NEW books in the libraries. Because then they will actually get checked out!

What you don't see on these shelves especially is children's books! I work at a teacher's college, and it's important for my students to get practice reading and planning lessons with children's books before they get in the classroom. Also lacking: any sort of appropriate fiction for my students, who are around my age (a little longer), but have reading levels around junior high or middle school level.

Also, when you donate, you are helping the volunteers who work at primary schools, many of which do not have a building for a library or books at all. When they receive books at these schools, the volunteers are working with their counterparts to create space for a library and a reading culture!

The link for our project, called "One-To-One Literacy Project (Peace Corps Volunteers) - Uganda"   is at this link

https://www.booksforafrica.org/donate/to-project.html?projectId=158

Stay tuned for videos of my staff and students, telling you exactly why they want new books.

Please share this with your friends, your teachers, your parents, your family, whoever you think loves reading and wants to help share that love across the world.
Try to let me know if you're thinking of donating - I want to know everyone who has helped and thank them personally if possible!

Love,

Emily