VUSUMNOTFO - Parenting for a Sustainable Future

Although the official adult literacy rate in Eswatini is 91.3%, a common siSwati expression says that “if you want to hide something from a Swazi, put it in a book.”

Official literacy rates reflect Functional Reading (ability to read), not loving to read, defined as:

• Meeting the lowest requirements for being able to function in your environment.
• Reading when you need to but not because you want to.

This is in contrast to Loving to Read, defined as:

• Reading for comprehension (being able to apply the information that you have read).
• Seeking out reading for knowledge (to better oneself and society)
• Seeking out reading for pure pleasure
• Spreading the love of reading to the next generation.

To lay the foundation for “Loving to Read” we make available bilingual storybooks at family and community level.

We do this through operating a library for community preschool teachers attending our in-service training (Activity 1.2).  Our library is well stocked with storybooks for preschool children, and with easy reading fiction books to encourage teachers to read for their own enjoyment.

We also are a distribution partner for BookDash books which are beautifully crafted African themed storybooks. We annually distribute in a training format 9,000+ books from their Wordless, siSwati and English range.

We started this through the community preschool teachers (Activity 1.2) but have since expanded it to our parenting participants (Activity 1.1), our Savings & Lending Group members (Activity 2.1) and to family members within our Water, Sanitation and Hygiene infrastructure development activities (Activity 3.2).

We also have a hanging library in our training room for children whose parents our attending any of our training activities. Our aim is to integrate enjoyment of storybooks into the daily life of children at family and community level in rural Eswatini. 

Activity 1.3. Provide access - to bilingual storybooks, to support reading to children at family and preschool level.

Links:

• Vusumnotfo web site
• To view African themed story books, BookDash web site