Following the closure of all learning institutions in March this year, our network of libraries was affected and followed suit. Interestingly, our library department made the decision to go mobile to continue serving children and youth in Mombasa during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main focus areas for this program was to provide books to our high school students and their siblings, as well as to engage our high school students to read aloud to children in small groups.
Brenda Wanyonyi, a form one student in Limuru Girls High School is one of our high school beneficiaries who has been involved in this program. When we visited her home a few weeks ago, she was reading out Be Kind, by Pat Zietlow Miller to a group of 8 children and it was such a joy seeing how passionately she engages with the young ones.
“What inspires me to read to children is helping them develop a reading culture, good morals, and I want to contribute to their success in life from a tender age.” Brenda
Through this program, our library department distributes books every two weeks to our high school students while they are meeting for their study groups, and included in each student’s package of books are storybooks for the Read Aloud program.
Reading to children helps them acquire early language skills, develop positive associations with books and reading, as well as build a stronger foundation for school success.
In this program, each student is charged with the volunteer work of inviting children who live near their homes for the read-aloud sessions. This helps us to ensure that our libraries’ resources continue to reach the children of our community and that these children continue to develop their interest in books even while out of school. Our goal by end of the year is to reach over 6,000 children through our read-aloud program.
We are forever grateful to AMI Worldwide for their unwavering support towards our library operations and the American Friends of Kenya (AFK) who have continuously supported us with books curated specifically or our children and youth. We of course cannot forget our high school beneficiaries, who are giving back to their community at a very young age and in a very special way, and without whom this program would not be possible.