Creating a reading culture in a school requires commitment and collaboration between the school and different literary enthusiasts and organisations.

According to experts, this kind of culture matters because it helps to create well-rounded individuals who can think critically and analytically in the learning of all subjects, not just languages.

The evening of February 3 saw students at Saint Ignatius High School, Kibagabaga, feast on literature by reviewing Murambi, the book of bones by Senegalese author, Boubakar Boris Diop, and hearing from different Rwandan and international writers through La Cène Littéraire, an initiative whose literary events continue to engage young Rwandans as well as Africans in reading and writing.

READ ALSO: Genocide: Book on Murambi Tutsi massacre to be published in 17 languages

Speaking during the literary event, Tom Ndahiro, an author and researcher at the Interdisciplinary Genocide Studies Center, urged students to read but also write. He noted that writing is an easy and trustable way to transmit knowledge and history.

He said that for someone to write well, they have to read, and that when they don’t, they don&039;t write the truth because they still have to build on what happened.

"Don’t say that reading is boring because when you don’t read, there are things you never know," Ndahiro continued. "Why isn't reading part of the many things that make you busy? Have time to use social media platforms but also time to read on paper or on the screen.”

Ndahiro noted that the Interdisciplinary Genocide Studies Center believes in having literary events in schools because what happened to Rwanda, especially the Genocide against the Tutsi, has to be told through writing because what’s written can’t be forgotten.

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Alex Rudasingwa, the Country Director of Edition Flore Zoa, an international publishing house and the coordinator of La Cène Littéraire which was initiated by Flore-Agnès Zoa, Lawyer and Editor of the publishing house, declared that they decided to support reading clubs in different secondary schools, specifically Saint Ignatius High School, after realising that there was a challenge concerning lack of books to read.

They decided to donate books, starting from Murambi, the book of bones, because it&039;s a vital work that contributed to the teaching of the Genocide against the Tutsi in various Western schools and raising awareness about Rwanda’s contemporary history in Africa and beyond.

According to Rudasingwa, organising literary events in schools helps in mobilising students to acquire a reading culture and in spotting talented writers among them, thus helping them to get their literary works published.

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Father Innocent Rugaragu, Director of St Ignatius High School, said that a reading club motivates students and helps them to hold each other accountable in terms of reading and sharing what they have learned from books.

"There is no way one can know the past without reading the past and there is no way you can project yourself into the future without knowing your past and present," he said.

"If we don’t know our past, we are probabaly going to repeat it and we don’t want to repeat it, like the Murambi story."

Rugaragu noted that the school also wants students to develop the culture of writing, declaring that "other people should not write our story; we should write our story.”

Students speak out

Kesley Gratia Dukunde is the representative of Saint Ignatius High School&039;s French reading club which has 45 members.

She said that as part of its activities, members read books as well as write and perform poetry which helps them to nurture creative minds.

"When you expose the things you’ve read or the poems you wrote," she continued, "it helps you to express yourself more in public."

Dukunde urged fellow students to read books starting from those that shed light on the topics that interest them.

READ ALSO: Reading culture: Why every student should embrace it

Don Joël Niyoncuti was among the students who reviewed Murambi, the book of bones during the event.

He said that with the help of a reading club, members discuss the book they have read and help each other to understand the lessons the author wanted them to acquire from that book.

"Teachers can’t do all the job," Niyoncuti continues. "We, learners, are responsible for our future and reading will help us to get knowledge, know new vocabulary as well as speak in public better. A literary event like this helps us to share with others what we’ve read and extend the culture of reading to them."