PUKU.co.za

Book Character Inspires Children on World Aids Day

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 02 Dec 2010   |   

In Observance of World AIDS Day: Introducing An Unlikely Heroine for Children in South Africa

World AIDS Day was established by the World Health Organization in 1988 to raise awareness of a disease that has devastated generations worldwide. Every December 1, as we observe this solemn day, it’s hard not to be completely overwhelmed by the staggering statistics: 1.8 million deaths from AIDS in 2009; 2.5 million children worldwide infected with AIDS, and 30 child deaths from AIDS every hour. Of those infected by the disease, nine of every 10 live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

And while the numbers are daunting, one little hero is making a big difference to children in South Africa whose lives have been shattered by this ravaging epidemic. Her name is Thandi, and though she doesn’t have the notoriety or spell-casting powers of Harry Potter, her story is very powerful and has brought hope and comfort to some of the millions children who are ill or have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

Thandi is the heroine of a series of books produced by Catherine Groenewald and Room to Read’s Local Language Publishing program in South Africa. Thandi made her debut in I Could be Anywhere, written by Groenewald in 2004 after working with her friend, Sarah Oosthuizen, to establish a women’s sewing collective for an impoverished community in South Africa. The local women learned sewing skills by making ragdolls, named Nosipho dolls, from scraps of material. It was here Groenewald and Oosthuizen met Gogo, a grandmother who was the sole bread winner for a large family in a community ravaged by HIV/AIDS, TB, poverty, illiteracy, teenage pregnancies and alcohol abuse. Groenewald remembers, “Forming a friendship with her, and seeing her daily life, the children around her and her personal struggles, made me want to tell her story.”

In I Could Be Anywhere, Thandi, an orphan who has lost both of her parents to AIDS, moves in with her grandmother, Gogo, and together they make a doll named Nosipho from the scraps of Thandi’s deceased parents’ clothing. Through Nosipho, Thandi finds comfort and healing, and the two become inseparable. The second Thandi book, Nopisho Comes to Stay, written by Oosthuizen and illustrated by Groenewald, was published by Room to Read in 2007, translated into 11 South African languages, and distributed to Room to Read libraries throughout South Africa.

Groenewald later produced three more books in the Nosipho series, two of which are Room to Read publications: Jingle-jingle in My Pocket, published in 2009, and The Big Secret, to be published by the end of 2010.

In addition to having the books about Thandi in our libraries, Room to Read South Africa partnered with two local non-profit organizations, ABC Stories and Siphosenkosi, to have the books and handmade dolls distributed to orphanages and children’s clinics throughout the country. Groenewald notes, “While speaking to a doctor, who works for Kidz Positive, an HIV/AIDS Clinic in Kayalitsha, Cape Town, I was struck by the huge burden HIV-positive children bear. They feel they must keep their status secret for fear of family scorn, reprisals and rejection by a sometimes uncompassionate community. The Clinic Sisters and counselors comfort and counsel these children – hopefully with the doll (as a tangible comfort) and book (gentle education about the truth) these children feel heard and less burdened.”

We all anxiously await the day we can close the book on the tragedy of AIDS, but until that day, we’re honored to be part of an effort bringing some comfort to children coping with extreme loss and sadness.

Meet Thandi personally by reading Jingle-jingle in my Pocket via Scibd (and also check out Scribd’s Read for a Cause promotion benefitting Room to Read).

Visit our website to learn more about our Local Language Publishing program.

• Read complete article

South Africa's Teens Fight for Better Schools

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 22 Nov 2010   |   

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Masiyile High School in Khayelitsha township joined a distinct minority earlier this month.

It has a library. With books.

More than 100 teenagers from various schools — many of them members of Equal Education, a youth activist group — gathered on a Friday afternoon to celebrate the opening of Masiyile High’s library, which boasts some 3,000 books.

Masiyile technically already had a library but the shelves were empty and it was locked 24 hours a day.

Most South African schools have no library. The Department of Education statistics look like they’re from the days of apartheid: just 21 percent of government-funded schools have a library; only 8 percent are actually stocked with books. Nearly all of those are at formerly white schools.

A generation ago, teenage activists were a crucial part of the anti-apartheid movement. Now South African youths are organizing to press for better education.

South Africa’s constitution promises youths access to education but the problem is that they’re not actually receiving it.

Most youths who join Equal Education are budding activists looking for a cause. Weekly youth groups discuss issues linked with education, such as unemployment and xenophobia and these conversations shift their perceptions of equal opportunity and education.

Teens involved with Equal Education — they call themselves “Equalizers” — are learning how to think critically, engage others and get the government to improve education policies. This year, they collected 65,000 signatures for a petition that called for a library and librarian in every school across the country; marched to the parliament building in Cape Town and the presidential Union Building in Pretoria; held a hunger strike; and even showed up early to school as part of an anti-tardiness campaign.

A couple of years ago, young people here succeeded in replacing 500 broken windows at Luhlaza High School but they met with some resentment from adults who had been unable to achieve the same results, said Yoliswa Dwane, head of Equal Education’s Policy, Communication and Research Department.

“People outside like that achievement and invite us into their community,” Dwane said. “But people who are here felt threatened.”

Equal Education’s strategy has evolved in its few years of existence and now it gives more emphasis to partnering with various constituents rather than just focusing on results.

Equal Education has learned from the Treatment Action Campaign, a South African activist group that used a human rights approach toward HIV/AIDS that helped to revolutionize society’s attitudes and the government’s health care policy. The Treatment Action Campaign — which shares leadership with Equal Education — takes complex ideas about science, HIV, and human rights, and breaks it down into simple language.

Equal Education is taking a similar approach by educating youths to become advocates and implementers of change.

Parents who don’t have much formal education themselves often lack the confidence to press for better schools for their children. For example, thousands of schools do not have toilets or electricity.

• Read complete article at Global Post

Stories for Africa from Africa

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 10 Nov 2010   |   

Children learn to read by reading. It’s a simple thought, a truism, even, but one that, on a continent where books are frequently an unheard of luxury, requires constant reiteration.

If Africa’s children are to learn not only to read but also to love reading they need encouragement from parents, caregivers, teachers — and writers and publishers capable of producing works they will enjoy.

With that in mind, Dr Carole Bloch, a specialist in early childhood literacy and coordinator of the Early Literacy Unit of the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (Praesa) at the University of Cape Town, and Dr Neville Alexander, the director of Praesa, evolved their hugely ambitious project, Stories across Africa — a collection of books for African children of all ages, all backgrounds and several nations, written in their own languages.

“At the heart of the project,” says Bloch, “was the promotion of the idea of reading for enjoyment. You can make a difference with young children. Early childhood is where it all begins. But if you don’t offer children an incentive they won’t read.”

For the past decade she and Alexander, combining literature and pedagogy, have worked on creating literate environments and learning for enjoyment, trying to transform the way children are taught.

Promoting creativity
There is nothing limited about the aims of the Stories across Africa project — its ambit includes not only children but also those who create, provide, acquire and use the books.

The primary aim is to motivate and nurture reading and writing among African children and their caregivers by supporting and promoting the development and use of children’s literature in South Africa and other parts of Africa in African languages as well as in English, French and Portuguese.

The first group of books to emerge from the Stories across Africa project was titled Little Hands — 16 tiny format books in vibrant colours and 23 languages, designed for children aged from birth to six.

Some of the books cover subjects such as the senses, animal sounds, comparisons, colours and numbers. Others are complete little stories.

A teenage collection with the same concept is in the pipeline, developed by bringing together people from different backgrounds to elicit what children from those different backgrounds want.

Best Loved Tales
One of Bloch’s latest projects is a series, published by Jacana, titled Best Loved Tales. Its intention is to “put out very good quality material that people can make their own. We thought we should do versions of classic stories that speak to all children through, broadly speaking, their own environment,” says Bloch.

In line with Bloch’s belief that it’s important to get good writers writing for children, the first of the Best Loved Tales are retold by Sindiwe Magona, Margie Orford, Véronique Tadjo and Bloch herself (see review on page 11).

To try to elicit funding for book development work, Bloch and others have set up the Little Hands Trust. A major issue, she says, is “translation” — whether to promote original material written by speakers of a particular language or to translate existing material. Both are significant.

“While the idea here,” she says, “is to affirm what we all have in common, original material needs to be produced for each cultural background and language.”

And, since it is adults who will have to buy the books and introduce the children to them, it is vital “to help to orientate and educate adults in the importance and significance of ­reading to and with children”.

• Read complete article at mg

Department of Higher Education and Training Pulls Plug on Project Literacy

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 10 Nov 2010   |   

Some serious food for thought, where are we headed with education and literacy in this country. It’s really scary. Read more here.

A 40-year old adult literacy NGO, the largest provider of adult basic education and training (Abet) in South Africa, has been forced to shut down its provincial offices and retrench more than half its staff after the government withdrew a major contract.

Andrew Miller, the chief executive of Project Literacy, said on Friday that the former director-general of the Department of Higher Education and Training, Mary Metcalfe, had awarded the contract, on behalf of the National Skills Fund (NSF), in September but that it had been withdrawn three weeks later. Her response arrived a year and a half after the organisation submitted the proposal in March last year.

But Mvuyisi Macikama, the NSF’s chief executive, said the department had not withdrawn any contracts. Instead a review of 15 contracts was under way. Macikama said he would be sorry if any of the organisations involved collapsed.

Project Literacy’s services range from adult basic education to teacher training and curriculum development.

Miller said that in the 2009 financial year 35 000 individuals had received training in literacy and numeracy skills.

He said that 47 out of the 78 staff members would be retrenched and that all seven regional offices would be closed.

This comes at a time when the country is in danger of slipping further down the global competitiveness rankings with one of the worst education ratings in the world.

Recently Stellenbosch University published a report that said illiteracy was costing the economy as much as R550 billion a year. It said the gross domestic product would be 23 percent to 30 percent higher if the quality of schooling was where it should be – a level befitting a middle-income country.

Bertus Matthee, the acting national director for the Read Educational Trust, said the loss of Project Literacy’s national structure was a “disaster” for literacy in South Africa.

“There are thousands of youths who have left school early… Now that the Higher Education Department is trying to get its act together it is going to need NGOs to get to the people on the ground. The department doesn’t have the infrastructure,” Matthee said.

Miller said without the NSF contract, which had been reduced to R21 million from R90m at the request of his organisation, the NGO’s costs would exceed its income. It cost the organisation R1.2m monthly to maintain its facilities.

Macikama said a task team had been appointed by the National Treasury to review the fit of the contracts with the national skills development strategy to be launched in April next year. He said the team would present its findings next week.

“We have no intention whatsoever to put an end to an organisation with so much experience in adult literacy,” Macikama said.

The organisation had at least 14 other contracts running, but Miller said these were minuscule in comparison with the withdrawn contract.

• Read complete article at iol

Lubuto Library Project Opens Second Library in Zambia

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 27 Oct 2010   |   

About two weeks ago I had the pleasure of presenting our website Puku.co.za to many very interested and like-minded people at the UNISA Children’s Literature and Storytelling Conference in Pretoria. One of the people I got to talking to, who was very interested in the work we do at Puku was Jane Meyers. Jane briefed me about the Lubuto Library Project. Lubuto which means enlightenment and light in the Bemba language, is a project which aims to get the orphaned and street children of the streets and in the library, reading, learning and playing in a safe and educational environment.
One Library has already been up and running for awhile. Now the second and third libraries are soon to be completed. The second library will be launch on Wednesday 10th November at 16h00. The guest of honor will be Dr Kenneth K Kaunda who ‘will introduce innovative library services for Zambia’s most vulnerable youth’. The Launch will be at the Ngwerere Basic School, corner of Katima Mulilo and Garden Roads, Garden Compound, Lusaka.

The Lubuto Library Project® has reached a Memorandum of Understanding with the Republic of Zambia naming Lubuto as the “national partner” in providing literacy and library services to Zambia’s orphans and vulnerable children in cooperation with the Zambian government and the nation’s network of educational institutions.
Lubuto is moving forward with its second and third libraries for children, planned for Lusaka’s Garden Compound and Nabukuyu, Zambia. This progress is due to the very generous support of Dow Jones and Company and its employees, Oprah’s Angel Network, Marilyn Hollinshead, and our other loyal donors. Design, construction and staffing details are being finalized and preparations made for groundbreaking at these sites. Additional sites and funding sources are being identified and work is underway to further expand the network of Lubuto libraries.

These are exciting times for Lubuto. However, our work is just beginning. To scale up and reach more children with our libraries and more programs, we continue to collect and organize books and to raise funds for present and planned libraries. You can help us to complete and sustain these libraries and future ones by organizing a book drive, raising or donating much-needed funds, volunteering with us to build and catalog book collections, or by starting a Lubuto Library club/support group at your high school, college or workplace.

It is Lubuto’s mission to serve orphans and vulnerable children and youth, giving them hope for their futures by enriching their lives and stimulating their imaginations now. Please help us in creating these safe havens and in bringing excellent library programs, services and spaces to these deserving children. Be a part of our excitement and success!

Lubuto is a word in the Bemba language, spoken in central Africa, that signifies knowledge, enlightenment and light.

The Lubuto project creates high quality, open-access libraries to serve Africa’s street kids and other vulnerable children and youth. The library provides a safe haven and an opening to the world beyond the bleak streets. Lubuto offers educational services and the simple pleasure of books and the arts for children who find themselves alone in the world. Giving the burgeoning numbers of street children the chances they deserve to develop their imaginations and to realize their potential is Lubuto’s challenge.

Lubuto’s highly professional organization, in the US and Zambia, does not work as an isolated charity. The sustainability of its program is ensured through partnership with government, community-based organizations, and professional groups, and Lubuto libraries are owned and run by Zambians.

• Visit Lubuto Library Project here

New Library Brings Hope to Eshowe Children in KwaZulu

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 25 Oct 2010   |   

Durban – Young children in Eshowe have big dreams, to become doctors, news readers and social workers to help their communities.

With a R7 million library being officially opened by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture, those dreams could receive loads of help to turn them into reality.

Schools in the areas have libraries but they don’t have adequate books and computer resources for all the learners.

The King DinuZulu Library though comes with a wide array of books – including tertiary education books – DVDs and computers with free Internet access. The library also has a meeting room and another spacious room for studying.

One of the library’s frequent visitors is, Nokulunga Mthembu a Grade 11 learner, who attends the King Goodwill Zwelithini High School and dreams of becoming a journalist or news reader.

“I am very nosy. I am always searching for news and I like telling stories. I am very good at interrogating people and getting the truth out of them,” said a vibrant Mthembu.

Her second option is to become a social worker because “South Africa has too many orphans that don’t get a decent education”.

The library serves Mthembu’s educational needs well but is also an institution that adds meaning to her life. She is interested in understanding the human mind and has “thousands of questions” she needs answers too.

Mthembu believes books are where she will find such answers and she said reading “A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe” is giving her great insight already.

“I think this library is good and civilised. There are rules here. There is order and processes and I like that. We get so much information for our projects and school work. In school we don’t always have access to books – here there are so many novels to choose from,” said Mthembu.

Jabu Msane a Grade one teacher at the Baqaque Pimary School said she is delighted with the library. “My own children will make use of it and although we have a few computers at school, I will be referring my learners to this library,” said Msane.

Msane accompanied Thandeka Manqele and Pretty Buthelezi both learners from her school to the official opening ceremony.

Manqele said she is happy that she doesn’t have to walk a long distance to get to the library and can spend time on Saturday mornings looking for books she enjoys.

“I want to become a doctor so I know how much of reading I will have to do. For now I read a lot about everything,” said Manqele.

Buthelezi, who nurtures her aspiration to become a social worker, is concerned about people. She said she understands the importance of studying and it makes her feel good.

“I am so happy, I learn so much from these books. I will be coming here very often. I like cartoons but mainly books about animals because I find them very interesting,” said Buthelezi.

Although the library has been operating for the past few months, KZN Arts and Culture MEC Wesizwe Thusi said it was important to officially “hand the library to the rightful owners, the people of Eshowe”.

The Department of Arts and Culture in the Umlalazi Municipality supports five libraries at Eshowe, Gingindlovu, King Dinuzulu, Mtunzini and Sunnydale.

“The location of this library is further proof that our government led by His Excellency President Jacob Zuma is indeed committed to bridging the gap between those leaving in urban and rural areas,” said Thusi.

The King Dinuzulu Library already has stock of books and other library material to the value to R1.5 million from the Regional Library Depot in Pinetown.

This stock will constantly be refreshed and updated to ensure that it keeps up with the needs of the community.

The MEC added that she was pleased that the library was most busy during the recent public service strike. -

• Read the complete article at Buanews

Nurturing a Reading Culture in Ugandian Homes

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 20 Oct 2010   |   

The Uwezo 2010 Assessment Learning Report revealed low reading proficiency especially among pupils in government-aided rural schools. It was observed that children are not acquiring the basic competencies expected at different stages of primary school. It is interesting that Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has emphatically questioned the validity of the study’s findings.

The board maintains that what were considered standard level tests are in fact above what is normally expected. The examinations board also insists that the sampling units used (households) do not represent the known characteristics of classes.

But Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary Francis Lubanga ignored the politics surrounding the report and commended Uwezo for doing the study. The writing is clearly on the wall for all to see. We have seen the gobbled gook that university students write in their essays. The grammar in letters and emails from offices manned by university graduates is often disturbing. Rather than explore the merits (or lack thereof) in the response from UNEB, I will consider ways of intervening to overcome the trials and tribulations of many of our unlettered pupils.

Low standards

It seems the admission requirements of our secondary schools, polytechnics and universities have dropped considerably over the years. This situation breeds complacency among young who would otherwise work harder at improving their language proficiency. It seems anyone able to write some partially intelligible stuff into an application form and pay fees can get an admission. Can there be some language proficiency requirements for admission into secondary school and university in addition to the principal subject grades? A Test of English as a Foreign Language accompanies all US university applications from non-native English speakers. Those who’ve sat the test know that they ask for more than primary two-type comprehension.

The Wall Street Journal recently published findings of a report by Scholastic Publishers highlighting a particular challenge in getting boys to read. But I think the challenge in this country is across the board. The study found that if parents read more, so will their children. Almost half of the fathers surveyed read books less than one day a week. It was suggested that if fathers read more, then their sons would.

1987 film The Princess Bride is a very vivid reminder of the way fathers (or even grannies) can have completely devoted listeners when they read stories to their sons. We often let those hours when children are confined in bed (but not asleep) or as they wait in a queue at the dentist’s go to waste. The children are unable to realise that every little counts for improving vocabulary and knowledge.

The journey through traffic jam from school would otherwise not be filled by fruitless ranting from the radio jockey.

Electronics control

Parents and teachers are aware that as children grow older and learn to use computers and mobile phones, they spend less time reading. I have also previously attributed the low-level of English proficiency of university students to a belief that there is ready-made knowledge and understanding on the internet for students to take and paste into their assignments. Students no longer have the urge to read or write anything of value for themselves from hard copy. With the advent of fast search facilities, they can look for what they want online and need not know anything for themselves. One commentator has observed that the secret to raising boys [and girls] who read, is pretty simple — keep electronic media, especially video games and recreational internet, under control and fill the shelves with good books from eminent writers..

Good books

My father has often recalled interesting dialogues in William Shakespeare’s plays at dinner table conversations on politics, money or work. The genius of Shakespeare was displayed in the powerful delineation of character, and the dramatic evolution of human passions. His portraits seem so real—living and breathing before us. The literary works of such outstanding men and women make very good company during leisure hours. By elevating the thoughts and aspirations, they act as preservatives against the confusion ill-formed opinions from low associations may sow in the mind.

It is unnecessary to speak of the enormous moral influence which books have exercised upon the general civilisation of mankind, from the Bible downward. They contain the treasured knowledge of the human race. However, it is not how much one reads that matters most, but the benefit derived from the thoughts that develop our own thoughts and strengthen our own minds.

• Read the complete article at monitor

Learning English With Reg and Lellow's PowerPoint Story Series

by Bontle on 20 Oct 2010   |   

Chris Roland’s innovative Reg and Lellow story series aims to teach children whose first language is not English, how to read and understand the language from an early age. On the Reg and Lellow site, members find a series of PowerPoint stories featuring the characters Reg and Lellow. The first series of ten stories is free and can be readily downloaded by anyone.

Chris Roland is an English teacher himself and as such the stories also boast a number of pedagogical features to aid language acquisition, make in class storytelling as easy as possible for the teacher and story content easily integrated into schools’ English curriculum.

The stories have been designed to help young children learn English and can be used in class with pre-school, infant and primary levels.

• Visit the Reg and Lellow site

PUKU Visits Sandton Library

by Bontle on 13 Oct 2010   |   

I paid a visit to Sandton Library last week to find out what’s going on and found myself pleasantly surprised.

An entire floor of the massive library is dedicated solely to children and their parents. A wide selection of books are available but most of them are in English. Some of the books seem outdated and quite old but the Friends of Sandton Library held a book sale on the Square shortly after my visit to finance the purchase of many more new children’s books among other things.

With bean bags, little chairs and tiny tables, it’s a great place for kids to learn and read, quietly and safely. Story-time is Wednesday 3-4 for 3-6 year olds.

The Sandton library which is situated on Nelson Mandela Square is open to all members of the community. The library has a collection of over 92,000 volumes, as well as audio books, videos, music CDs and language tapes, the local daily and weekly newspapers, periodicals and the Provincial and Government Gazettes. Membership to the library is necessary to borrow material. Contact the Library on Telephone: (011) 881-6400.

Puku Attends the UNISA Children's Literature and Storytelling Conference

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 13 Oct 2010   |   

So the UNISA Children’s Literature Conference went of without a hitch again this year. Unfortunately I was not able to attend the first one last year however some of the delegates who had also attended last year said though there were slightly less delegates the commitment and passion could still be felt. They were also happy to see some new faces and a vast selection of Children’s Literature Programmes from all over the world.
Of course Prof Thomas van der Walt was there leading the way of promoting Children’s Literature and chairing numerous sessions. Other speakers include; Palestinian Storyteller Denes Asad, who shared the hardships of keeping Children’s Literature and Storytelling alive for Palestinian children with all the conflict that still prevails, Prof Babila Mutia of Cameroon presented some findings from a reading trial with 50 children on ‘The transforming effect of Storytelling on Children, Jane Kinney Meyers from the USA who is the President of the Lubuto Library Project. Bukola Ladoja from Nigeria spoke of the difficulties they have of trying to ‘ignite the reading fire’ in Nigeria, Cape Town based Nombulelo Baba from the Centre of the Book spoke of children ‘growing up with books’ with the First Words in Print Project. Then of course ‘yours truly’ presented ‘Promoting reading and storytelling in the digital age: the case for an online encyclopaedia on children’s literature and storytelling in Africa’. It was an absolutely wonderful Conference and I really enjoyed meeting such passionate and dedicated indivisuals. Looking forward to the next one.