"Excuse me teacher, is "Odongo” a verb or an adjective?”

In Rwanda, as in other African countries, children’s literature is flooded with reading materials from overseas. Availability and access to local literature is very limited and only a few children’s books have been authored by Rwandan writers.

This situation is not only a barrier to inspiring children to read, it also limits children’s enjoyment of and engagement with literature because the books they encounter are disconnected from local realities. There is therefore a strong need to develop a children’s literature in Rwanda that our children can relate with.

This write-up draws on experiences of working with children and teachers in the primary school classroom, offering examples of the barriers created by providing children with story books filled with only unfamiliar settings and scenarios.  It makes a case for the importance of developing a larger body of children’s literature by Rwandan authors, arguing that culturally relevant reading materials would enable children to connect more strongly to the books they encounter in the classroom and build a stronger reading culture in Rwanda. I conclude by exploring strategies for developing locally authored and produced reading materials, and mobilizing parents, teachers and government as part of this process.

The challenges of lack or existence of very few children’s books in Rwanda can be attributed to our social- cultural background. Rwandans like most other African societies are oral people. Reading is not part of our culture. In the past, people would gather around fire places, both young and old and the children would learn from the adults. In that way information and cultural mores would be passed on from one generation to another. As already mentioned, this scenario (practice) dominated most of African societies until the late 18th century when missionaries and explorers started arriving in Africa.  

Whereas some countries in the region like Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania have since independence registered significant leaps and bounds towards developing locally relevant Children’s Literature.  A close scrutiny reveals that these works parade local realities. The situation is an endearing aspect to young readers, and it undoubtedly boosts their reading culture. Obviously, this can be credited on their scholars keen on authoring Children’s Literature. Owing to negligible, if not non-existent Rwandan children’s Literature, Rwanda is still missing out on that.

According to Gacheche Waruingi (2009, pg 30) "we have had some outright dumping of educational and general reading materials from North to the South, complete with snowballs and snowmen. Ask the Kenya Book Foundation. This organization receives on a regular basis tons of books from North America…..Most of them I am sorry to say, have little relevance to our environment, let alone our school curriculum.”  In addition to this quotation the following rhetoric’s can also serve as hints on the importance of developing children literature that is locally relevant. At what age should children learn to read and write?  And why is children’s literature important?  What are the best practices to teach children to become literate?  These questions can partially be answered by Emilie Buchwald’s saying thus, "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”
Piaget’s theories of child development also support the use of children’s literature with very young children.

According to Piaget, children between 2 and 7 years of age fit into the preoperational period of development.  As such children’s literature can help fulfill the purpose of an early childhood education which is to develop in young children social, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, and physical skills. In other words, a child is encouraged to develop as a whole child through a variety of activities while developing their personality and their learning during their early childhood education. For this purpose, children’s literature is the best way to provide such a range of experience that enables children to develop and discover language and how to live their own stories, based on their own voice and ideas. They begin to connect stories in books with the stories of their lives and their own cultural values.

 Therefore, children’s literature can be valuable in many ways for early childhood literacy program. Accordingly, Children’s literature should be set based on familiar environment. In this way children will easily connect and relate with books and as they grow up reading becomes more pleasurable and source of entertainment as well as forming meaningful communication between the parents and children and later on with teachers and wider society at large. Through reading literature that they can easily relate with, children share pleasure, personal experience, and learn their historical and cultural heritage. Therefore, children’s literature that incorporates a child’s familiar experience and environment, cultural values and mores is the best strategy to preserve and pass our cultural heritage from one generation to another.

I would like to share my personal experience of challenges of using unfamiliar literature to promote reading amongst children. Together with a few colleagues back home we have volunteered to teach reading in one of the Primary schools in our neighborhood. One day as I was conducting a reading session a child in P.5 excused herself and she wanted my attention. "Excuse me sir, what does Odongo mean is it a verb or an adjective?”  From that experience I realized that the child could not easily connect with the story in the book. Reason?  In Rwanda we don’t have the name Odongo, and since Odongo was the main character in this story, I realized the girl did not follow the story in the book she was reading!  From this personal experience it can be pointed out that the more children can relate  and connect with characters and the story in a book the more interest they will develop in reading. And as such the more they enjoy literature the more easily they become literate. As children become literate, they enjoy lite
rature on their own by selecting their own reading based on their interests and needs, and eventually read on their own. Thus, there is a meaningful relationship between children’s experiencing local literature and gaining literacy naturally.

 If children are to become readers and improve their reading abilities, they should start with literature that they can easily relate with. Also, young children need time and space in rich literary surroundings to develop their literacy naturally. According to Huck (1977), "The motivation for learning to read comes from the desire to read real books and that imaginative literature must begin with local surroundings” (p. 54). He further argues that children want to learn to read because they like to read for enjoyment, that is, it is an easy and effective way for children to learn to read if they get excitement and pleasure.

Sharing books with young children frequently is one of the most effective ways to develop literacy at an early age. Having young children listen to and respond to stories, poems, etc., appears to be the most beneficial means of extending and developing their literacy (Cazden, 1983; Snow, 1977; Ninio & Bruner, 1978). On the other hand, there are some significant questions about the relationships of literature and literacy: What aspect of reading a book makes children to develop literacy? How do children learn words in books as they read literature?

Making reading personally meaningful through children’s literature helps them learn to read. While reading to children, it is important to let them interpret books with their personal experience and to share the meaning with others because their personal response to literature is a beneficial way to develop their literacy (King, 1989; Weaver, 1990; Golden, Meiners, & Lewis, 1992). Routman (1988) asserts that when children read books, they develop their own literacy by understanding the meaning of the stories instead of learning isolated letters and words.

As children search for the meaning of stories as explorers, they are able to see and interpret them with their personal perspective. Goodman (1977) indicates that when children read books, they discover how language works. Reading books lead children to realize that the print message conveys meaning. Smith (1976) also states that "children probably begin to read from the moment they become aware of print in any meaningful way” (p. 299).

According to Krashen (1989), "Words are not learned all at once when they are seen in context; rather, word knowledge grows in small increments. At any given time, there are words we know well, words we do not know, and words in between” (p. 446). When children read literature, they learn in a whole context rather than memorizing letters and words. Williamson (1981, p. 29) states that "words are powerful and people have power over words.” Thus the more children use words in the context of literature the more they enhance their language development.

As children learn a variety of words, they can express their own feeling and thoughts when they create their own writing. Meaningful story books for children should present experiences that have a connection to their lives. Consequently, literature can help children learn about the real world in a pleasurable and fascinating way, perceive their surroundings, and understand relationships with others. Literature develops in children not only the ability to create, overcome barriers, and become imaginative, but also positive attitudes toward reading books. Additionally, it contributes to the development of a good "personality” and values. Here good personality may be used in context and environment and this is where local literature may serve this purpose beginning with children’s literature.

Most of all, children’s literature provides children with fundamental answers about who they are, how they should live in society, and how they should live with each other. Huck (1977, p. 58) says that "the teacher must provide daily time for children to practice their reading skills by allowing them to read books of their own choosing and at their own pace and for their own purposes.” Therefore, the teacher must offer opportunities for children to experience a variety of reading activities to be a satisfied reader who experiences pleasure and meaning related to their real lives and environment.

To be continued

The author is an educationist