Rebuilding Our Reading Culture
A Dialogue with Faith Inyanchi, Start A Library Trust
Like many people who work in the literary industry, I read a lot as a child. This was at once a source of pride and frustration for my mother, who had to spend money buying books ever so often, only to hear me say I had finished reading them all before the day was done. What we needed was a library where she could pay an affordable fee and drop me off weekly, and thinking about this is what focused my attention on the need for accesible libraries not just in places like the CBD but in our neighbourhoods as well. This is why I am invested in the work of Book Bunk, the Kenya National Library Service, and Start A Library.
Start A Library Trust started as an in-house initiative at Storymoja Publishers in 2012, and since then, it has grown into its own entity and has established nearly 300 libraries in various schools across the country. That’s what they do in the simplest terms — they set up libraries in public primary schools because every child deserves access to books. This is in line with Storymoja’s motto: a book in every hand.
In late 2021, for an article I was writing about the NBO Litfest, I spoke with Faith Inyanchi, part of the Start A Library family, about their work. I couldn’t use all the information she gave me for the article, but now, a year and a half later, here you go.
Start a Library is doing such important work in democratising the literary space by setting up libraries in schools where the children might otherwise never have access to storybooks and other kinds of creative literature. And that you have been doing this quite a while means that you have refined your process over the years, which includes developing a robust monitoring and evaluation system. In the work that Start a Library has done so far, what indicators have you found best show the impact that the libraries have on the communities where they are set up? What are the biggest changes you see in the schools and the communities in general?
Our greatest impact is seen in enhanced access to reading material, increased library lesson attendance, and improved reading habits, which lead to better academic performance.
We start libraries mainly in public primary schools that do not have libraries. We've started libraries in the deep parts of Makueni, Kitui, Samburu, and Kajiado counties. One of our upcoming library launches will be at a primary school in Namanga, close to the Tanzanian border. During the library launches, we get to experience first-hand the desire and hunger the children have for storybooks, and any reading material really. However this is not accessible to them because in a vast country of over 47 million people, we only have about 65 public libraries across the country. To date, we have started 221 school libraries of about 1,000 storybooks each and donated two book boxes to two children's homes. With an average population of 500 children in a public primary school, this means 110,000 children have access to storybooks daily!
This means these children can access library lessons, which are actually mandated by the curriculum – at least one every week for English and Kiswahili – and we have literacy activities in the new curriculum too. This has led to improved reading habits as attested by teachers during our monitoring visits. One of the best testimonies we've ever received from a school was while launching Phase Two of our libraries in partnership with the Makueni County Government. One of the teachers from the Phase One beneficiary schools mentioned that his school had improved to become the best in the sub-county. He credited this improvement to the library. When this happens, teachers begin to understand the value of libraries in schools and will begin prioritising the purchase of storybooks as learning resources.
As for the communities, which are ideally made up of the parents, we've had varied responses. There are those that are very responsive and commit to supporting their children's reading journeys as they understand the significance of reading to their children's overall academic performance. But there are also those that are yet to buy into it. We accept this as a challenge that more needs to be done to sensitise the communities on the value of reading and the value of libraries. We have made enough strides to know that we are on the right path. This, what Start a Library is doing, is how we rebuild the reading culture in Kenya.
This shows how interconnected everything is – the libraries you’re setting up impact the children as well as their teachers. Libraries make the education system more vibrant and effective in multiple ways. Dr Wandia Njoya has in the past called for a decentring of schools in education, and I agree that allowing children the opportunity to learn from other spaces and experiences would make a huge difference. What you have said shows that libraries will be essential to this decentring. Returning to the wealth of information you have accumulated over the years, what is the biggest lesson you have learnt about the Kenyan literary space and reading culture in the course of your work?
I have learnt quite a few things:
One, Kenyans did not lose their reading culture; they lost access to relatable reading material. In every school we have been to, there is not a single one that had children who did not want to read. All the children want to do is get lost in books, but where are the books? Many adults attest to having school libraries at some point in their schooling. But these slowly dwindled down to the current situation, where schools have no libraries and thus no library lessons.
Due to the pressure to perform and pass exams, teachers started taking over the library lessons and stopped buying storybooks, and over time, children were no longer reading for pleasure but for exams, and that culture has stuck to date. For the few schools that have managed to get donations, close to 95% (and I'm being quite generous here) of the book collection is foreign content. How can children enjoy reading stories they can barely relate with? How can they enjoy reading books that are torn and tattered?
To mitigate this, Start a Library only starts libraries with brand new, authentic, African (Kenyan) storybooks. This way, children appreciate and enjoy reading the books. If we are to re-ignite the love for reading and with it, create opportunities for writers to make money from their craft, we must ensure children have access to reading material both in school and at home. Ensure they have reading time in school and that they don't have to walk over 30 kilometres to get to the next library.
Two, as a country, our literacy levels are not that bad. When you look at Uwezo reports, the literacy statistics of school-going children are not that bad. While we have a significant number of children who struggle, we have quite a good number who can read at their level. However, we have a huge gap in reading comprehension and critical thinking as literacy skills. We have children who can read but cannot comprehend what they are reading. After a child completes reading a book, they cannot tell you what the book was about. This is a crisis because it means children barely comprehend the language of instruction (both English and Kiswahili). How then can they be expected to perform well in their academics?
To understand a language, you have to interact with it constantly, whether it's through engaging with people who speak it, listening to audio books and conversations, watching movies, or reading books. Research has continued to show that reading storybooks forms the foundation of learning language and that children who read storybooks perform better than their counterparts who do not read. Shouldn't storybooks then be made compulsory as English is a foreign language in most parts of the country, and Kiswahili as well in some regions?
One sobering realisation has been that when we do not equip children with reading material, which will equip them with the requisite literacy skills to comprehend the language of instruction, then we are setting them up to fail, not just in academics but in life because they will not be able to compete. They will not be able to articulate their views, they will not be confident enough to try, they will not be fluent enough to be understood, they will not be creative and imaginative enough to come up with solutions to the problems in their communities. By not enhancing access to reading material, we are killing the reading culture and causing entire generations to be disadvantaged.
The third thing is: there's hope! Over the past few years, more organisations have understood the value of storybooks in improving literacy skills and are now buying more storybooks than textbooks for schools. Many organisations are looking to build libraries, whether school or community libraries. Kenyans are now starting to care enough to do something about it, instead of sitting around waiting for the government to do it. This fosters ownership in the community. We are contributing to building our own reading culture.
The literary space is growing. We have more people showing up for book signings and engaging their authors. The number of book clubs, even online ones, has increased and even better, we have bookstores dedicated to selling African-authored books only, and I'm sure they are doing pretty well. These are all indicators of a growing reading culture. I just hope that this spark keeps growing into an inferno that will burn for generations to come.
Your outlook inspires so much hope! I certainly experienced that gradual colonisation of library lessons, especially by mathematics teachers! The CBC curriculum has its issues for sure, but the return to mandated library lessons for both Kiswahili and English was a step in the right direction. And with the libraries you set up, these library lessons are actually possible without adding an additional financial burden on parents to buy the storybooks.
Speaking of which, setting up libraries is not just about shelves and books – it’s about librarians and library programming too. Capacity building is a core tenet of Start a Library's work to ensure the libraries keep running long after the launch. To what extent does this contribute to closing the gap in literary development and interest between Nairobi and other regions in the country?
Capacity building plays a critical role as this is how we develop foot soldiers who will advocate on the value of libraries in building not only a strong reading culture but also an enlightened community. We train both teachers and learners (Junior Reading Ambassadors).
Because teachers are influential in the rural parts of Kenya, having them serve as advocates gets us buy-in from the communities. We, however, still have a long way to go in closing the gap, as some communities do not have access to the resources that you would readily get in Nairobi. For instance, Nairobi has numerous libraries that have books for all age groups. On the other hand, Kajiado County has hardly any libraries. Our school libraries only have storybooks meant for children aged 4 – 13 years, so an adult and even post-primary school students may not find anything useful; they can only ensure the children have ample time and space to read. Those are some of the dynamics and challenges we encounter while promoting reading, but we try as much as possible to find sustainable solutions. While capacity building might one of the solutions, there's a lot more that needs to happen to bridge the divide.
There’s clearly so much work to be done yet, and it’s inspiring that Start a Library has gone ahead and set a precedent for how other people can contribute to the rebuilding of our reading culture. With each challenge, you try to find a solution and improve your model. What is the biggest challenge you currently face in the setting up and maintenance of libraries in schools?
Our biggest challenge is access to funds to equip and sustain the libraries. While we partner with different organisations, individuals, rotary clubs, and county governments to stock libraries, most of the schools are unable to update the library stock every year. Thus, after about two years they are back where we started, with worn-out books. Therefore, we work with schools to institute library funds, where every learner contributes as little as 20 – 50 shillings per year to cater for library storybooks. This brings about ownership and reduces dependency on donations.
Another huge challenge is the high turnover of teachers. This is due to delocalisation. The few teachers we had trained kept being transferred, and we had to keep training and retraining new teachers to replace the ones who left, causing inconsistencies in the library programmes. We have thus resorted to training all the language teachers in a school. This way, when one leaves, another immediately takes over without disrupting the school’s programme.
I’d never have made a connection between transfer of teachers and disruption of library lessons, so your insights are eye-opening.
Going back to programming, Storymoja Publishers, to which Start a Library is connected, holds the Storymoja Festival. The festival stands out among literary festivals because its primary target audience is children. How would you say literary festivals impact schools and learners, and why is it important to tailor the festival-going experience to this age group?
Festivals bring to life the fun and excitement of books. Tailoring them to school children enables them to experience this excitement first-hand. This experience is what sparks their interest in reading. The teachers and school administrators get to experience the power of storybooks in teaching children, and they learn various ways of making reading exciting in school.
In addition to this, the communal feeling of coming together to celebrate books also creates an ambience of free expression and learning from each other, giving learners an opportunity to showcase and appreciate each other’s talents.
This has been deeply informative; thank you so much for taking the time to engage with me. The knowledge that those of you who are out in the field accumulate is so valuable, and more people need to have access to it for sure. I come away from this inspired to find ways to contribute to this work in the communities I’m a part of.
You can learn more about Start A Library on their website and YouTube channel. Twitter.