OK, so my colleagues form Ghana Institute Of Journalism formed a reading club which they called Read 4 Change Reading Clinic'.
Their mission is to encourage pupils at the basic level to read, read and read and to debunk the statement that if one wants to hide anything from an African, it should be put in a book.
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| Members seated in bus, poised to 'read 4 change' |
After all , it is for a good cause. Meetings were held and it was decided that the group visits La Nkwantenang Basic School at Madina in Accra.
Members were assigned to various classes and yours truly was assigned to class six.
The date was set. It was the 5th day in the month of love and a lovely Wednesday for that matter.
Books- Check, Gifts-Check, Members-Check, Bus-Check. All set, we set off in the school bus admist singing of 'jama'. The two hour journey was an like an eye-opener for those visiting Madina for the very first time.
The sad reality of the nature of the market, shrouded in filth, overcrowded and polluted with noise of market women clamouring for the attention of buyers indicated that Ghana is far from achieving the Millennium Development Goal seven on sanitation .
Maybe, these market women need to be educated 4 a change. Hmm 'market n'abr3'. We arrived safely at the school, geared up for the exercise. The headmistress, whose approval we sought,warmly received us..
All set,the much anticipated reading exercise began.For maximum participation among the pupils, it was decided that the pupils be divided into groups of about six, with each group having five or six members, depending on the number of pupils in the class.Then we began reading.
R4C Members getting acquainted with pupils - Sebastian my partner and I, got acquainted with our 'students' Justine,Alberta,Grace, Balack and Bright. We read a story from a grammar book after which
they took turns in reading, that over, the pupils were assessed through a spelling bee exercise which was mind blowing. These kids were able to spell some words they came across for the very first time correctly. They reminded me of my primary school days some years ago( I have also been around for a while lol).
A class six pupil exhibiting his reading prowess 
Alberta And Grace, during the exercise
All done, we took several pictures with our wonderful students, bid them farewell but promised to return again.
As I laid on my bed that night, I thought to myself, what better way to end a day than to put a smile on a person's face and with that I committed myself to the celestial father and began my journey to dreamland.
To my dear pupils, until we meet again, continue to read, read and read.
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| R4C Members And Pupils Beaming with Smiles |
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| Headmistress of the school with R4C Members |
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