The importance of reading cannot be over-emphasized. A past Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey estimates that according to the International Education Statistics, almost half of all adult Nigerians cannot read and write. This is because these adults were not exposed to quality education at an early stage. As we speak, not much has changed except in terms of population growth. We face this challenge of illiteracy in our communities and even cities. In line with our work with children, especially the less privileged, we are aware of the lack of educational opportunities due to the level of poverty in the system.
This is a major driving factor for us at SACTS to ensure that disadvantaged children are given access to quality education to improve their lives and give them the opportunity to thrive.
The aim of the SACTS book club is to serve the Underserved children and to promote a reading culture and improve their vocabulary so they can become more confident people in society.
The SACTS Book Club launch has gained a lot of awareness since its launch as some of our partners are beginning to see value in helping/impacting the lives of the less privileged children. They are particular in the area of spoken words and love for reading in general.
BOOK LAUNCH EVENT
This quarter, one of our partners, Ranti Akintobi launched an authentically African storybook, portraying our African identity.
the title of the book is “The Royal Visit”. It is the story about Obabirin, a female king (named Queen Lara), and the first of her kind in the land of Lafiya, in Africa. We had sessions online and virtually for the benefit of the children that we sponsor.
The physical meeting was held at one of our partner shelters, the Out of school empowerment foundation (OSCEF). The author Ranti was also present at the event. We had children from 4 different orphanages – Red Cross orphanage, Compassionate orphanage, Sought-after orphanage, and Precious pearl orphanage on the live meeting online. It was an interesting experience for the children.
One of our facilitators confirmed that the session was very impactful. After the online meeting, the children read the book. There was a question and answer session as well as a puzzle to better understand and test their knowledge in spoken English and spelling.
The children fell In love with the book and also said that the characters looked African, just like them.
TTnubian has donated over 500 copies of this storybook to the foundation to be distributed among all our partner orphanages. We would be adding this book to our curriculum because there is a lot to learn from the literature.
This is just one-way SACTS contributes to ensuring that the less privileged/disadvantaged children are improved to have a better life and become better citizens in society. Become a volunteer, join our book club facilitators group today! Register here: www.redesign.sactsng.org/become-a-partner
