Room to Read Blog

Freedom to Learn: A Guest Blog from South Africa

Chris Mothupi, Room to Read's Country Director in South Africa, recently attended an awards ceremony organized by the Mpumalanga Department of Education to recognize schools in the province that are demonstrating an outstanding commitment to using their library. The winner of the “Library of the Year” award happened to be a Room to Read library and in today's blog, in honor of South Africa's Freedom Day holiday, Chris shares how the students came prepared with a few words to express how their library has given them the "freedom to learn." 

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“Room to Read, where were you during that time when we struggled for education?
Where were you during those days when we did not have libraries that brought us liberation?
But we forgive you now because your birth in South Africa brought us knowledge,
Because of you, children from schools are now able to read, write and broaden their knowledge.”

These lines come from a poem that was written and presented by first graders from Malwana Primary School during a ceremony I attended on March 18 in honor of the provincial library week organized by the Mpumalanga Department of Education. The occasion was to recognize schools that have shown significant improvement in the usage of their libraries by students and teachers, and of the 300 primary and secondary schools that participated in the competition, Malwana Primary School stole the show that day as it scooped up the prestigious “Mpumalanga Provincial Library of the Year” award.

Their win and the fact that the children were so inspired by their library as to write a poem about it, swelled me with immense pride. But it was their metaphor of a  library as a liberator to knowledge that takes on special significance, because today is South Africa’s Freedom Day holiday. It was on April 27 in 1994 that all South Africans had the opportunity to vote in the country's first post-apartheid democratic election. We celebrate this day because it is a reminder to us of how Nelson Mandela, an icon of liberation for me and many of my countrymen, inspired change and acceptance in an historically divided nation. [See Chris’ guest blog about Nelson Mandela International Day.] 

 

I remember well what Mandela implored on a day that I was honored to hear him speak. He said children must go to school and learn, because how can you have freedom if you do not have education?

 
Room to Read began working at the Malwana Primary School in 2009 when, in collaboration with Mpumalanga Department of Education and the community of Manyeleti village, we converted one of the school's unused classrooms into a library. Shelves, library desks, tables and books were soon provided and the teachers and the school’s governing body members, along with the principal Mr. Rambele, were also trained by Room to Read on library management and ways to engage students in library activities to enhance their literacy skills. Mr. Rambele and his staff then took it upon themselves to work diligently with the local village chief to mobilize the community and encourage children and parents to visit the library and make use of the resources on regular basis.

Today, the library is fully utilized by students and teachers from the Malwana school and the larger Manyeleti village. During the weekday afternoons and on Saturdays it remains open for neighbouring schools and communities to access. By establishing the library at the this school and in this community, Room to Read has contributed significantly to the villagers’ newfound appreciation of the empowerment that comes with being educated.

But, for me, it is not Room to Read's presence that makes libraries at schools like Malwana Primary School successful. Instead it is what those schools and teachers and students do with the resources, and the community's dedication to supporting them, that will make an everlasting impact on their education. It is an education that is essential to their continued freedom to make informed choices, and I am confident that Room to Read will continue to be a catalyst for change in South Africa by giving children the "freedom to learn." The Malwana Primary School is a testament to that.

To learn more about Room to Read’s work in South Africa, click here.

Meet Inkam: Girls' Education Scholar from Laos (VIDEO)

Education changes everything. It certainly did for eleven-year-old Inkham from Oudomxay, Laos. Inkham lives with her parents, two brothers and new baby sister and has a full day of helping her mother with cooking, collecting water and chores before school even starts. Inkam loves studying Lao language and writing essays while at school, and she dreams of graduating from secondary school to attend a university. Room to Read's Girls' Education program ensures that Inkham has the supplies, tools and mentoring she needs to complete her secondary education and succeed in her dreams. Meet Inkam below, and see why investing in Inkam and others like her through our Girls' Education program can change a life.

 

All gifts matched through May 31! From now through the end of May, all donations to our Girls’ Education program will be matched up to $250,000. Honor mom -- or any other special person that has shaped your life -- by supporting the next generation of women. www.roomtoread.org/MayMatch.

Experts Converge for First-Ever Forum on Books for Early Readers

Last week, after many months of planning, field research and interviews, international experts, stakeholders and staff were brought together for Room to Read’s first-ever Early Grade Reader Forum. Over two days, the group discussed, debated and aimed to find consensus in two areas: defining high-quality children’s books for beginning readers and identifying the critical factors that enable these high-quality books to be developed in the countries where Room to Read works.

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The room was abuzz with old acquaintances reuniting, new colleagues meeting for the first time and a general excitement as the start of Room to Read’s Early Grade Reader Forum kicked off last week in downtown San Francisco. The excitement was justified, as this was the very first time this particular group of people had ever been brought together in the same room, in the same city, in the same country or even the same continent.

Included among the 45 participants were international early literacy experts, local language publishers and literacy researchers, who came from 10 different countries to join Room to Read stakeholders and staff for a two-day summit to discuss high-quality children’s books for beginning readers in developing countries.

The seed idea for the meeting was planted last year; Room to Read had just concluded an assessment of the availability of books at varying reading levels in the local marketplace in several of our countries. What we found was discouraging, and it became quite clear that there was a tremendous void in the development and production of books in Asia and Africa for children who are just learning how to read.

So when Room to Read Advisory Board Member, Dr. Luis Crouch, challenged the organization to put together best practices around developing high-quality children’s books for beginning readers, in true Room to Read style, our Local Language Publishing, Reading Room and Literacy program teams came together and the result was Room to Read’s first-ever Early Grade Reader Forum.

Ms. Oud Saysena came all the way from Vientiane, Laos hoping to gain a better understanding of guidelines for creating high-quality beginning reader books in her home country. She owns one of the very first private publishing companies in Laos, which just received government approval to operate last year. She also owns and operates Happy Moon Children’s Bookstore, and admits that in Laos, there is “no expertise or understanding of how to write books for beginning readers. There are no standards or local experts who can give advice or comment on what is good and the best quality for early readers.”

Local language publishers, including Ms. Saysena, participated in interactive panel discussions and breakout groups to brainstorm best practices, and many will be returning to their countries with clear steps to help them develop high quality beginning reader books—whether it’s creating a mentoring system to build the capacity of their writers and illustrators or looking at opportunities to co-publish titles with fellow publishing houses. It’s a promising start.

At the conclusion of the forum there was consensus on some of the issues, but also more questions to spur continued debate and creative solutions. Ultimately, as one expert reflected, “This forum created a sense of everyone wanting to pitch in and create a really authentic community. We’re coming from a deep place in our hearts and something in our personal histories to make it better for the children.”

Learn more about our Local Language Publishing program.

New Year Celebration in Laos is Awash with Tradition

April in Laos is a very wet time of year. Not only is it the start of the monsoon season and the time when farmers start planting most of their crops, it’s also Bpee Mai or Songkan— the Lao New Year—the most important celebration for Laotians worldwide. The festival, like the weather, is replete with water. On April 13, the first day of the celebration, water is used to clean houses and the village. The second day represents the day in between the old year and the new year. Strictly observed as a day of rest, only fun activities are allowed, the most popular of which is dousing friends and unsuspecting passersby with water.

The New Year officially starts on April 15, the third day of the festival. Young people prepare scented water with flowers and visit their grandparents, parents and elders. They rinse the elders’ hands with the water and ask for their blessing and forgiveness for any wrong-doings in the past year. At home, prior to enjoying a large feast, families engage in a special ceremony called "Baci" in which participants take turns tying blessed white strings around each other’s wrists to wish them good luck and prosperity for the new year. This tradition runs deep among Laotian people as an homage and blessing that upholds the value of life, and of social and family bonds.

Room to Read’s Lao New Year is a colorfully illustrated children's book about this annual holiday. The drawings, by Laotian artist Sikko Milakong, show the many elements of the New Year celebration, including families participating in the Baci ceremony and having fun splashing water on each other.

One of several oversized books published by Room to Read, Lao New Year’s large size makes it even more enticing to eager young readers. Room to Read started publishing “big books” in Vietnam in 2008 as a tool to help teachers and librarians interact more effectively with young children, many of whom are just learning to read. In addition to the books, Room to Read also provides supplemental instructional materials, such as teacher’s guides with questions and activities that further engage the children in learning.

Adding cultural relevance to our books allows children to predict words or easily familiarize themselves with them because they know what the people in the illustrations are doing and already possess the vocabulary that naturally accompanies the pictures. It also makes it easier for them to learn from activities they perform themselves, such as visiting the temples with family members to sprinkle water on Buddha statues.

As a global organization, we honor and respect the cultural traditions of our friends and colleagues worldwide—and we try to incorporate them in our materials so that children not only learn to read, but also learn that their traditions are respected by those outside of their local communities.

 

To our Lao friends and colleagues, all of us at Room to Read send a virtual bucketful of water and a warm "Sabadee pimai!" or "Happy New Year!"

Learn more about our work in Laos and our Local Language Publishing program.

 

Room to Read Celebrates International Children's Book Day

On April 2, the world celebrates International Children’s Book Day, a forty-four year tradition established by the International Board on Books for Young People on the birthday of esteemed children’s book author, Hans Christian Andersen. International Children’s Book Day is designed to inspire a love of reading among children and adults. At Room to Read, we celebrate reading every day, as we work to provide the materials, environment and skills for children in some of the more marginalized regions of the world so that they can discover the joy of books.

The theme of International Children’s Book Day for 2011 is “The Book Remembers,” which means that books are reflections of the time in which they are written. Thus, they are invaluable sources of history, as well as being entertaining and inspiring. Room to Read’s Local Language Publishing program holds culture and tradition as critical elements of the books we publish. We want to be sure the children reading these books can identify with the setting, the characters, the habits and speech –- for in seeing themselves and their surroundings, they are better able to understand and learn.

Last week, the two global office members of our Local Language Publishing team, Wilfredo (Wili) Pasqual and Sarah Stewart, had just returned from a 60-day, seven-country trip through south and southeast Asia. Though they were still fighting off jetlag and wading through unread email, they couldn’t wait to share some of unforgettable moments and colorful stories they brought back from their recent journey. The fast-paced tour was planned in an effort to survey the Local Language Publishing program -– its strengths and opportunities for growth. Along the way, Wili and Sarah met with individuals from all the various groups involved with putting local language children’s books into the hands of young and budding readers. Their notebooks and Flip cameras were filled with conversations with authors, illustrators, librarians, teachers, ministers of education, publishers, and, of course, some of the children enjoying the colorful and inspiring books filling the shelves of their libraries and schools and filling their imaginations.

One of these children was Kimlay, from a village near Siem Reap in Cambodia. Two years ago, Kimlay struggled to keep up with her school work. Because her reading skills were poor, she was very embarrassed whenever asked to read aloud in class. The librarian at her school saw a dramatic shift in Kimlay’s performance once a Room to Read library was established. With the encouragement of her grandmother and aunt, both of whom had attended school themselves, Kimlay became a voracious reader, checking out up to 10 books each day and staying up late to finish every book so that she could check out 10 more the following day. Kimlay is now ranked third in her class and continues to bring home a stack of books each night, many of which she reads to her young cousin.

What Wili and Sarah found as they traveled via plane, bus, tuk-tuk and footpath, is that, the value of children’s books is universal. The words and the pictures touch the soul and imagination of young minds eager to discover and understand their world.

On International Children’s Book Day, we honor the authors and illustrators who create these portals to places undiscovered. We honor the librarians and teachers who make these tools available to young readers. And we honor the children who happily and enthusiastically pore over the colorful pages as they journey to magical places.

Read more about our Local Language Publishing program.