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Beaven Tapureta : Bookshelf

Tariro Primary School in Hopley, Harare South last Friday hosted an exciting reading fair which saw several facilitators imparting reading and writing skills and children rights knowledge to pupils and some parents. The school, though in need of further development, stood out on this day as a beacon of knowledge as it upheld the virtue of reading culture. The reading fair ran under the theme “The Dawn of a New Era as we Groove into a Reading Culture”.Edwin Msipa, the headmaster at Tariro School, said the event was aimed at educating the children and youths about their careers and rights.

“Reading culture helps students get information and raise awareness about career guidance,” he said.

The facilitators at the reading fair were drawn from organisations such as Childline, Motivated Me, Family Support Unit, Legal Resources Centre and the International Board on Books for Young People, headquartered in Switzerland.

Writer Virginia Phiri, who chairs the IBBY Zimbabwe Chapter, encouraged the children to read and practice writing while poet Batsirai Chigama had a wonderful poetry session with them. Phiri expressed joy that her organisation took time to be with vulnerable children or poor community.

As representatives of IBBY, Phiri, Chigama and Greenfield Chilongo spent the day with the kids, inspiring them to recite poems and also tell stories.

Childline representative Fungayi Sibanda had a momentous session with the kids, encouraging them to pursue their dreams. The children, learning in song and dance, recited their basic rights. Zephaniah Chakawa of Legal Resources Centre, a charitable and educational trust which deals with the promotion of access to and the development of further capacity of legal resources in Zimbabwe, also educated the children on their rights.

Harare City Library’s Takwana Masunda imparted knowledge to the children on reading and study skills. The children also learnt about their rights in a morning workshop carried out by a facilitator from Family Support Unit, and career guidance from the organisation — Motivated Me.

The one-day reading fair was also attended by parents from Hopley who are part of Tariro School’s Adult Education Programme. In interviews, the parents bewailed the high rise of drug/alcohol abuse and prostitution among young people in the area. They are calling for the destruction “PaAnthony”, a small but popular business centre in Hopley where young people are being influenced into prostitution and robbery.

The parents said Hopley needs a library or community centre where the children can spend their time reading and studying, especially during the holidays. As it is, the area has no youth-friendly centres.

“This event was good because it has enlightened the children on writing, reading skills and knowledge about their rights but the problem is that we do not have a library here. Places like PaAnthony are influencing our children to engage in robbery, prostitution and other evils,” said Mai Banda.

Another parent, Monica Maneneta, said domestic violence is rampant in the area and this affects children’s performance at school.

“There are poor people in this area and this poverty, together with domestic violence, affects children,” Mai Maneneta said.

There was an outcry from parents for the demolition of PaAntony place saying even the police are doing nothing to arrest criminals. They said there are no night patrols by the police and girls are leaving school to engage in prostitution.

The Adult Education Programme has about ten students, elderly women whom this writer and school head Msipa have further involved in a new Shona poetry writing project called “Dapura Hunanzva” in partnership with the Harare City Library.

Munyaradzi Chiweshe, a writer who lives in Hopley, said although the reading fair was good, more should be done to provide students with reading material. Chiweshe, who is published in a Shona poetry anthology “Zviri Mugapu”, said books with local content are in short supply in Hopley.

Regarding the PaAnthony place, the school head said the media is not playing its part in exposing adults who take advantage and abuse school children.

Msipa and another writer Milton Chitsime, are organising another book festival in Hopley which is aimed at continuing building a culture of reading in children and community members, and sensitise the community on Gender Based Violence (GBV), child abuse and HIV/AIDS through creative stories. The festival will include book exhibitions, workshops and is expected to take place before end of the year.

“Most families live in single rooms as they do not afford decent shelter; and exposure of children to sexual activities is the major effect. The culture of reading books cannot be spoken of in Hopley and this is strongly believed to be the major cause of the widespread, gross ignorance in socio-economic development,” said Chitsime.

Tariro School is the first school to be established in the area. Other schools are private colleges which are too poor to provide adequate education and awareness. With a population of about 40 000 people, Hopley still lags behind in terms of community facilities.

Msipa said as follow up activities to the reading fair, there will be reading sessions during the school assemblies on Mondays and Fridays.