With your support, Vusumnotfo will convert a cargo container into a library for 5,000 preschool books (already donated). Currently, its 124-book library cannot fully support the 50 community preschools benefiting from Vusumnotfo's in-service training. An expanded library will ensure that all teachers can do activities daily that promote bilingual literacy and lifelong "reading to learn" habits in the 1,000+ children who annually attend these community preschools in rural Swaziland.
Swaziland's statistics are chronic - 25% HIV; 70% poverty; 40% unemployment; life expectancy 39 years. Although literacy can positively influence these issues, the expression "Uma ufuna kufihlela liSwati imali yifake encwadzini / If a Swazi wants to hide money in a safe place, put it in a book" - suggests that Swaziland's literacy rate of 79% reflects "learning to read", rather than the lifelong "reading to learn" habits needed to address these issues in Swaziland.
A cargo container converted to a library with adequate shelving and a check out system will protect the 5,000 preschool and teacher activity books, while displaying them for easy lending to teachers. This will ensure that each teacher daily reads at least one book to their children, thus supporting improved bilingual language and literacy development, and a love of reading in 1,000+ preschool children annually, while providing a positive model for the community at large.
Exposed daily to enjoyable, age appropriate, bilingual reading, 1,000+ children annually will acquire a love of reading. This will result in lifelong reading habits that will positively contribute to each child developing the personal initiative and critical thinking skills needed to transition out of the dependency mindset associated with chronic situations. As adults, these children will have the capabilities required to positively address Swaziland's HIV, poverty, and unemployment rates.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
