International Projects

• International
• Affiliation with the International Reading Association
• Connections with the rest of Europe
• Books for Africa
  • Book boxes for the Gambia
  • Libraries for Zanzibar
• Volunteering to teach overseas
• Exchange Opportunities

Libraries for Zanzibar

As in the Gambia, education in Zanzibar is free in principle, but the supply of books is sparse and restricted to text books. Children learn to read in Swahili, which is the medium of instruction in Primary School. Zanzibar’s teachers are keenly aware of children’s need to read for pleasure as well as formal study, but they simply don’t have the books. However, things are changing. Encouraged by a series of UNESCO funded teacher education workshops on literacy in which I had the good fortune to participate, a number of teachers are eager to develop school libraries. Read on…

One school in particular made a strong impression on me, when I went to observe the workshop teachers in action. This was Kajengwa Primary School in Makunduchi, at the Southern end of Unguja Island, where10 classes are ranged round a rectangular yard, in which the 600 children cavort at playtime, without putting a foot on the carefully tended flowerbeds. The Headteacher, Mr Hija, had set aside a small room to serve as a library, but had no stock, other than a few quite unsuitable books in English. (I guess that Ian Rankin never intended to communicate to 10 year olds in rural Zanzibar.)

So when I found out about the Tanzanian Children’s Book Project, based on the mainland in Dar es Salaam, I was delighted. Led by three inspired local educators, for the last 12 years, as well as working with teachers to develop reading for pleasure and purpose, the CBP has been running workshops for both writers aånd artists, on making books for children. This has resulted in the publication of over 200 titles in Swahili. The books range from Big Books of vividly illustrated stories for beginning readers, to chapter books and anthologies for the more experienced.

Thanks to the support of UKLA members, 115 of these books have been delivered to Mr Hija, and are now gracing the new library shelves built by the staff. But that’s still less than 1 book for each child. What’s the book/child ratio in your school?

By the time you read this I will have paid another visit to Zanzibar and seen the library in action. I will also have discussed the project with the school staff, and with their Primary Literay Inspector, Ms Ramla Kindy, who made such a strong impression at UKLA’s International Conference in July 2006, and has been instrumental in making all this happen.

The photo below shows Mr Hija in the ‘libraary’ in February 2006, before the scheme was even thought of. When I return from my September trip to Zanzibar, I should have some rather different pictures to share.

We’d like to see this project extend to other schools, as and when we have the funds. One association can’t do everything for the primary children of Zanzibar, but we’re already making a difference in one school, and we’d like to consolidate and then move forward. With your help we will!

by Henrietta Dombey