Image Competency

Citation: Books for Kids Africa. (October 2009). Machava after-school book clubs and the Simon J. Kirby grant. Retrieved from http://www.booksforkidsafrica.org/news-and-events/

Rationale: In searching for information on book clubs for children throughout this semester, I came upon the website Books for Kids Africa in Mozambique, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding literacy in Africa. In reading through the website, I located a section discussing how the organization had received a $4000 grant from the Simon J. Kirby Foundation to purchase books for the Machava After-School Book Clubs in Matola, Mozambique. In July 2009, sixteen teachers were trained on how to how to read books aloud and engage children in real conversations around books. The book clubs began later that month and more than two hundred students attended. The image above is a photograph of one of these meetings.

This image really touched my heart. As a future elementary school librarian, one of my goals is to organize voluntary book clubs for students. To see passionate teachers halfway around the world with the same goal in such different circumstances made me feel a deep connection to these fellow educators.

For further information on this great cause, please visit the website Books for Kids Africa in Mozambique.