How AYWO is helping children in Northern Region to develop reading habits

Some 60 teenagers gather at the Tamale children's library on a Saturday just about a half hour before it closes.

They had spent the morning journeying to get there to read, return and borrow books.

The library staff extend the hours for the tired teens most of whom walked the 15km journey from their village, through rice fields and irrigation canals in dry, dusty and blistering conditions.

About a year ago this would have been a futile effort; the teenagers could not string words to form a sentence. They just couldn't read.

A new head teacher for their school, Gbulahagu L/A school, turned things around, he made every effort teaching them to read and they fell in love. But there was a snag; the school had no library and no books to fuel their growing love for reading.

The nearest library, the Tamale central library was impossible to visit on weekdays due to the school schedule, on weekends the library closes at 2pm, a lot too early for the children who walk for some 3 hours to get there.

Portia Dery’s African Youth Writers’ Organization helps pupils like these. By taking reading clinics to them and holding clinics at the library, the pupils get mentored and encouraged in their growing reading journey.

It was the AYWO that helped the pupils get extended hours at the library, this effort paid off as by the time I met the pupils they were on to read a class five English book, an unthinkable feat months earlier.

The pupils from Gbulahagu L/A school are not the only ones who benefit from the reading clinics and mentorship offered by the African Youth Writers’ Organization. Many more children are beneficiaries of this social enterprise, imparting reading skills and mentoring underprivileged, underserved children.

Of the 8 JHS 3 pupils, 5 went on to Senior High School, 3 of them with scholarship. This paved the way for younger pupils to be inspired, to confidently hope to further their education and lift their families out of poverty. It’s a new cycle of empowerment which will hopefully be sustained.

The African Youth Writers’ Organization is calling for support for its activities, particularly its new initiative the Funky Read Write clinic, without which many of these children would not dream of a secure future.