Books!!

It dawned on my recently that very few people that I know in Sierra Leone read for pleasure - off the top of my head I can only think of two: Mr Sullay my old driver and a young lady who helps around my compound sometimes.

It's also very apparent that a lot of our students struggle with reading.

So.....I decided it would be a good idea to start a kind of book club, I thought I could gather a small group together a couple of times a week to work our way through a book together - I'm hoping it will not only help our young people to improve their reading and understanding of English, but also to foster a love of reading in them.

Then I came across a stumbling block - books are quite dear aren't they? I figured I needed five or six copies of each book in order for the book club to be effective, but I just couldn't afford it.
I mentioned it to a couple of people then put it on the back burner while I tried to figure out a way to get some suitable books.

Nancy, one of our sponsors, went to her local Waterstones and just look what arrived today:
42 fabulous books!! I can't wait to get started on reading these with the kids. A massive thank you to Nancy, this is so generous! Also a big thank you to Nancy's local Waterstones who were so helpful and even added to the selection of books!!

I'd also mentioned my idea to Adele, one of the Transform Salone co-founders - and we spent a lovely afternoon trawling charity shops looking for books that would be good for reading one-on-one with the kids. Look at this lovely selection that Adele has provided, thank you Adele!!

So, now we have six sets of six books for the reading groups and nine books for one-on-one reading! I'm so happy!!

I will be starting the reading group next week!! My niece is coming to Sierra Leone next week and I've already roped her in to help with this - it's going to be great!!

This is just the start - I'm hoping to build up a small library of suitable books, if you would like to donate some, please do let me know.

I need books suitable for children and teenagers - have a look at the books in the photos to get an idea of the kind of books we need.

I love books and I love reading - and I'm hoping our students will learn to love it also.