A new partnership between Children in the Wilderness (CITW) and Book Aid International (UK) led to the donation of 55 cartons of children’s books. Our first children’s corner was funded by The Grand Circle Foundation and set up at St Mary’s School as an inviting space for primary school children to discover the joys of reading.
Book Aid International is a UK registered charity which provides books and supports libraries in Africa and around the world. Every year the charity sends around one million brand new books to public and community libraries as well as libraries in prisons, refugee camps, hospitals, schools and universities. In 2016, an estimated 29.8 million people read the books which Book Aid International provided.
With a limited number of books in most schools, and often none at all at home, many children struggle to improve their reading skills. The children’s corners provide a dedicated area for children to develop a love for books and reading, while at the same time developing their language and boosting their vocabulary. Since 2014, 60 Children’s Corners have been opened in seven African countries providing them with a library space, a trained librarian and thousands of books.
At St Mary’s, the children are thrilled by their new reading corner. All of them are eager to finish their work so that they can spend more time browsing their new collection of story books. Here they can read out loud, show each other pictures, and see that reading can be fun.
