A decade of reading

There are many cases where I am surprised by the wisdom of our ancestors, quoting a Kinyarwanda saying ”The little bird that doesn’t fly will never know where fruit is ripening,” I think we can look to ways of the older Rwanda generation, which believed that learning about other places and things was vital. The culture of reading is one of those things that can help us understand other places, how others live, what has helped them advance. This can help us discover what can also help us advance. No one can deny that the culture of reading is lacking in our country; this is caused in part by our long tradition of oral literature and learning. The focus in learning was on being able to memorise and verbally recite the memorised folklores, songs or poems. Oral and verbal skills were highly esteemed and valued and narrators, folklorists or orators were well known and respected. Our country therefore preferred oral literature to reading and as they say “it’s hard to pass on what you don’t have”. This way of learning can also be seen in the school systems where a teacher gives you notes to memorise and you are expected to recall everything in order to pass your exams. Even though great strides have been made in improving quality of learning in Rwanda we still have areas to draw our attention to and improve together. Amongst those things are reading and also our involvement in extracurricular activities and hobbies. You find that these things are lacking among our youth, and that even teachers do not encourage their students to go beyond reading books required for school to looking for other books of their interests. Parents need to stand up firmly and support children to love books and ensure that in the daily activities they put time aside for reading. We have to learn about their interests and use that interest to spark their love of reading. For example, some children love photos, there are some children who love animals. We can provide them with books that stimulate that interest, and by reading what they are interested in they will also develop a love of reading. You might be among many who feel it’s impossible to find time for reading as your daily work schedule maybe busy, you might also be among many who just feel that reading is not for them. To try this out and find ways to introduce reading into your life here are three steps to could follow:First of all you need to find a subject that interests you. From my experience, Gender Equality is one of the topics that attract my attention and push me to find a time to read about pioneers of the American feminist movement, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who helped bring women the right to vote in the USA. No doubt when you choose a book of your interest you develop the desire of reading more and more. Secondly, don’t start with a big book that might discourage you or one that you will get to the middle of and you give up. There are some small books which can motivate you to keep reading. Being able to finish a book can give you a feeling of being able to accomplish what you have started. Lastly, develop the habit of reading a little each day. I discovered that it doesn’t need to be hours and hours. It can be a few minutes just before you start work, for these who have break time at office, you can organise to have 15 or 20 minutes for your book or even before bedtime.If you want to have a fortune like Jim Rohm says, you need a self education in addition to the formal education you use to make you a living. We should not be the people who finish school and think that we have finished learning, according to Rohm we should instead feel like we have really just started. My decade of reading was blessed by two major things, one being the opening of Kigali Public Library located in Kacyiru, and the other being the Kigali Reading Club, which I started with friends. Our goal is to promote the reading culture and particularly help the young generation to love books and use them as the ways to open many doors for their future. We meet once every month to spend time together sharing the stories and the books we have read. I hope these two ways will entice many of you who want to call this chapter of our lives a chapter of reading.