Communities using reading to encourage self-discipline among children

By Ravena Gildharie
Famed American novelist George R. Martin once said “a reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” This is a rather motivating quote to promote reading, but with advances of the internet age, keeping children of today’s society interested in reading and occupied with the use of printed books and magazines can be challenging.
Several communities have recognised this issue and embarked on innovative programmes to maintain libraries and encourage the kids to read in interactive and contemporary environments.

At Sophia, children and youths of all ages turn out in their numbers every weekend to be part of the interactive reading sessions organised by the Sophia Sparkle Youth Group. There is a mini library that offers to the children a wide array of text books, novels, short stories, children’s stories and magazines among others. The group received books from several individuals, some based overseas and a few local non-governmental organisations such as Food for the Poor Guyana. Most of the materials are distributed to the children but the textbooks are stored at the mini library to help the kids with their research and other school work.

“We see reading as very, very important and we put a lot of work into helping the kids in our area to who couldn’t even spell or read their own names although they were in primary school…and now you should see those very children standing up and reading so well,” said Doris Shelto-Mclennon, the group’s founder.
She explained that the reading exercises always begins with a prayer followed by an interactive session where the children reflect on their activities through the past week and identify some of their learning weaknesses at school. There is also a public speaking session where each child is encouraged to participate by standing up to talk or read in front of the gathering. The sessions, Mclennon observed attracts approximately 60-70 children each week including those at the nursery level who enjoy listening to the older children read the storybooks.

Reading as a tool to stem delinquency
Mclennon’s sons and other volunteers from the community conduct the sessions and also help the children with their homework and school’s projects. It forms part of the group’s wider agenda to promote moral values in a somewhat depressed community where majority of the children are prone to delinquent behaviors.
“We had some parents came to us crying and complaining that they can’t handle their children’s behaviour at home and after the kids start coming to our sessions, the parents reach us back and ask what have we done because they have seen a change in their children,” Mclennon related.

During the school holidays, the group organises recreational day camps where the kids are also taught various life skills such as sewing, tie-dye and handicraft.
Mclennon plans to expand and upgrade the library and will be seeking the help of government and others to do so.
Meanwhile, at Albouystown/Charlestown, Councillor Malcom Ferreira has been spearheading other ventures to encourage and support reading among kids in the community. In partnership with the Rotaract Club, the community recently staged a massive health fair and reading workshop which, according to Ferreira attracted some 175 children to the reading session.

Also, last December Ferreira coordinated the Florida-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) The First International Library to launch the Charlestown library and reading centre at the Carmel Secondary School. The centre is dedicated to the memory of Justin Monkhouse, a young man who was killed in an accident while on his way home from the library in Daytona Beach, Florida. The NGO is founded by the uncle of the deceased and had already established a similar reading facility in Linden.
At Charlestown, students of the Carmel Secondary School and the Ambitious Future Leaders Youth Club use the reading room daily. The students are allowed to borrow books of all genre such as novels and academic materials while only certain dictionaries are offered for use on the premises.

Recreational space for kids
The initiative has since attracted support from other individuals and NGOs who have been adding to the centre. Recently, the Greenheart Trust donated some 220 books on science, the environment, personal development, biography, and classic novels as well as nature DVDS and modern films. During the donation, Ferreira stressed the importance for children to educational and recreational space that will aid their efforts to develop self-discipline.
In the Moruca sub-district of Region One, the Kamwatta Village Council has undertaken a similar initiative, spearheaded by Senior Councillor Camilla Francis.

“I was a teacher for several years and long before I joined the village council, I saw a need for the community to have a library so I pitched the idea to the Council and they support it for us to convert the community’s centre into a library and IT hub,” Francis explained.
She said the centre was built several years ago to accommodate a computer laboratory but it was never equipped and the facility had become abandoned. The Council utilised the government-allocated 2016 Jubilee Grant and purchased three computers and books to launch the library and IT hub last April. Giftland and Austin Book Store along with a few other individuals also donated some books and reading materials.

The facility is opened daily, Francis highlighted and it is usually crowded during the school’s lunchbreak and in the afternoons after classes. According to Francis, the idea is to encourage the children to read even while developing their information technology skills.

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