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Hope Through Books for Children
While working with an international children’s organization struggling with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, I recently spent a month in Zambia, Swaziland, and South Africa. I visited homes, outreach centers, hospitals, and hospices. I heard hungry orphans laugh and saw the dying smile. I held the hands of ten-year-olds who, as heads of household, care for their younger siblings. I watched children without enough food for themselves share with each other and wait patiently in line for their bit of warm milk. I met many children, but I did not see one children’s book.
The presence of a book may seem insignificant compared to the overwhelming infection rates, the starvation, the death. In many countries, one out of four adults is infected with HIV or AIDS, and most are heterosexuals between the ages of 15 and 49. Few have access to, or money for, decent food or health care, let alone the ARV’s (antiretroviral medications). Seventy percent of all new HIV/AIDS infections and deaths in the world are now occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.
As the parents die, the children are left behind. Over 11 million children have become orphaned due to HIV/AIDS in this region, and their numbers keep growing. Stigmatized and forgotten, many are already infected. With little time left on this earth, quality of life is measured in small joys, like jumping rope, singing an ancestral song, or learning how to read.
Before my trip, I asked two of my publishers to donate a few boxes of my books to the orphans of Africa. I imagined reenacting my school and library presentation that I’ve been sharing with American kids for the past ten years. I would encourage the children in Africa as I had encouraged those in the States to read everything they could get their hands on. Write your own stories, I would tell them. Write about things that excite you, things you are passionate about. Use words to find out about the world, to explain your world to others. I didn’t realize that books were a luxury only the most affluent could afford.
Neither publisher sent books due to cost and bad timing. So when I returned home, I mailed a box of my books, along with other children’s books I was privileged to have on my shelves. The cost was incredibly reasonable using the U.S. Post Office’s media mail.
Yes, these kids need food. They need clothes. They need health care. They also need art. They need our books. A book in a child’s hands gives him/her access to the world, and perhaps, hope. If you would like to donate your books or help in other ways, please contact me at my website, sharonsharth.com. We can make a difference.
- Events Calendar
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JulSep 
- PUKU Chat Latest
March 23, 2011, 10:28 am
Nonikiwe - Editor is reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
March 12, 2011, 10:28 pm
lamoesther on Nigerians Shocked at NECO Examination's 2% Pass RateI will rather look at the bigger picture of the [...]
March 3, 2011, 1:19 pm
Chelsea is reading Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
February 8, 2011, 8:00 am
Chelsea is reading An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
December 29, 2010, 2:30 pm
paulineblah on Bontle is reading Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman CapoteHii ( paulineblah@yahoo.in ) I saw your profile today and became [...]
December 29, 2010, 2:29 pm
paulineblah on Nonikiwe - Editor is reading The Seed Children by Bontekanye BotumileHii ( paulineblah@yahoo.in ) I saw your profile today and became [...]
October 27, 2010, 11:46 am
Nonikiwe - Editor is reading The Seed Children by Bontekanye Botumile
September 8, 2010, 11:29 am
Bontle is reading Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
August 27, 2010, 3:31 pm
Coin is reading 1984 by George Orwell
August 27, 2010, 3:21 pm
Coin on Bontle is reading A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee WilliamsHow did you find it?
