Report
Chad: volunteers organize home reading sessions
Audio 01:16
The National Museum and National Library of Chad, in N'Djamena.
© Wikimedia Commons CC-BY 2.0 Ken Doerr
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Chad, books are still a luxury for many children.
Ndjamena, the capital, has only one bookstore.
The city's libraries are full of old, religious or school books, but hardly any children's stories.
To take children on a journey through stories and tales, reading enthusiasts have opened a library in Gassi, a district in the south of the capital, and are organizing home reading sessions.
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With our correspondent in Ndjamena,
Aurélie Bazzara-Kibangula
Raïssa chooses children's books from the hundred books in the small library in Gassi… then she goes to a family in the neighborhood for a home reading session: “
Hello!
Here there are two children.
We will start reading with them.
[…]
I read and you will explain to me later.
Is it good
?
»
One by one, the children read a few lines, like David, 9 years old: “
I like to read and I like to discover the images, the colors and a lot of things in them.
It makes me very happy.
»
Make you want to read
In Gassi, it is difficult for these children to have access to books.
These home readings therefore bring stories into their daily lives.
Christian Golao, is a voluntary reader: “
For a child who wants to read, he must go as far as Don Bosco.
It's a bit far, it's at least 3 km.
So for 10-year-olds to walk such a distance is a bit of a pain.
Moreover, with the insecurity that we know in the city, it is not easy to let your child go there.
And so, we come with some sample books, we present them.
It brings books together and it brings families together.
They appreciate.
»
The goal for these volunteers is to give children a taste for reading and make them want to come and read, one day, at the little library in Gassi.
►Also read: Chad: a teacher opens a school in a nomadic camp [1/2]
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