My Name is Neema and I am a student at Brookhouse Academy which is located in Nairobi, Kenya.

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‘Opportunity is the mother of invention’ My grandparents live in a village called Kaliwa set at the foothills of Mt. Elgon, Western Kenya. I enjoyed my visits to our rural home which was a change from the fast-paced urban life of Nairobi.  In the summer of 2019, I had the opportunity to visit a nearby school. Quaker Hill Academy Primary School soon realized that was no school library.  I was amazed most of the pupils did not regularly read the national newspaper nor had they read exciting books such as the pacesetter series of books set in Nigeria or the famous secret seven series by Enid Blyton. 

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At 14 years I could not remember a time in my life when I did not love reading books Reading allowed me to immerse myself in a world that was not my own; a form of escape, imagination, and great pleasure. This improved my writing as well as my spoken English. Soon my curiosity expands beyond fiction I began to read more about Kenyan history and biography books of famous people such as Serena Williams.  I enjoyed holding lively discussions with family and friends. This extended to school where I joined public debating groups such as world scholars and entered various writing competitions such as Harvard Global Women Empowerment Essay which I won in 2020.

 

Why didn’t the school have a library?  And why were the students not keen on reading and expanding their knowledge of the English language? The headteacher informed me the school did not have sufficient resources to purchase reading books as most of the students at the school were from poor families with most parents being subsistence peasant farmers. In addition, being a rural school, the main languages spoken are Kiswahili and the local dialect Kibukusu. I was driven to change this. I wanted to share the world of books with the students at Quaker Hill Primary School, expand their knowledge of the world, and empower them to aspire to be changemakers and leaders.

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I was assigned to Class 6 and 7 students which were about 70 students in total. Creating a reading culture in the school was not as easy as I had naively imagined. I encountered a lot of mental barriers that had to be broken because the students believed that reading books was not important and STEM subjects were superior to English. I had to be innovative – I started by hosting debates on topics such as the role of media, and the rights of children and encouraged students to read different newspapers and books to strengthen their arguments. The debates-built student confidence and public speaking skills. We also read short texts from different short stories to improve their reading, tone, diction, etc.  I took this approach to purposefully provoke their imagination and for them to see how limitless the world of imaginative writing is. As their spoken and reading skills improved I began to help students improve their written English.  At the end of that school term, the class's means English grade rose by 7 points from 45% to 52%! The students were excited and motivated to read more books and hold more debates.

  

On returning to Nairobi, I started a literacy drive to collect novels, literature books, and subject revision books among my schoolmates, friends, and relatives. In my first book drive, I collected about 100 books! From my pocket money and contribution from well -wishes I bought stationery and other writing materials which were also lacking as some students had to share.

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During the next school break I returned to Quaker Hill and was excited to note in my absence, they had developed the skills I had introduced. More classes were now involved in the debates, students showed more interest in reading even the newspaper, and their quality of writing and speaking English had improved. I was amazed how what seemed like a simple initiative on my part had made such a big difference in fellow student’s life I was inspired by the change that my initiative had caused.

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Then COVID-19 hit! During the pandemic, the movement was restricted countrywide so I could not visit the school as frequently as I would have liked to.  Nonetheless, I continued to send newspapers, donated books as well as academic material via courier to the school.  The students were able to collect the material to school and this keep up their reading giving and using the academic material for personal revision hence maintaining some semblance of normalcy during the unprecedented pandemic. 

The 70 students I supported all graduated from primary to high school and I have continued to be in touch with them during the holidays.  They’ve continued to nurture their interest in reading and writing and are inspiring other students in the same school! The whole experience has taught me how empowering young people with reading and writing skills can not only change an individual but even a community.  I continue to send books and reading material to Quaker Hill Primary school and hope one day to equip a full library but more importantly, I want to continue to offer peer support and mentorship to empower many young people of Kaliwa Village.
As former secretary–general of UN Kofi Annan said ‘Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. May we all bring hope to the people around us.