Ten is Sarah’s age. She lives with her parents and another sibling in a small community in rural Rwanda, and she has never left. However, Sarah has dreams that are uncontained. She’s going to be a doctor eventually.
In Gisagara, children are laughing and running down the gravel roads on a typical morning. They are also waving the bright yellow canisters around. They are en route to the local water station to retrieve water for the household. Gradually, the community is awakening; some are going to the fields, others to their workplaces. The kids are kicking up dust and pulling on each other in a playful manner as they make their way in groups towards the modest school building.
As Sarah and her pals walk to the classroom, they joke about and tell amusing stories. When she gets there, she sits quietly and attentively, ready to learn. Sarah raises her hand enthusiastically, indicating that she is among the finest readers in her grade, in response to the teacher’s request for volunteers to read a chapter from a book the class will be studying. Out of fifty children, the fourth placed in reading.
But Sarah’s reading skills were lacking just a year ago.
“She didn’t want to practice reading or do her homework after classes,” her mother Christine claims. For Sarah’s instructor and her parents, everything was challenging. They knew she had promise, but they didn’t know how to encourage her to reach for greater things.
Christine recalls, “One day, Sarah passed by the library.” Everything changed on that day. “When she returned with some books written in Kinyarwanda, she told us that the library had recommended us, the parents, to support Sarah’s reading at home.” Since then, the family of Sarah has made it a point to provide her reading time, support her reading, and tell her sibling the stories.
Books have a unique influence on developing minds. They can motivate them to never stop reading, developing, and learning by taking them on a global adventure that gives them the chance to see locations with countless options.
My favorite location to read is the library. There are an abundance of books. They improve my speaking, help me finish my schoolwork, and help me read more quickly.
Sarah had trouble reading before she found the library, which made it harder for her to succeed in other subjects. “I’m working very hard to be the best in the next evaluation phase. She declares with pride, “The library inspires me to follow my aspirations of being a doctor when I grow up. They let me read there or take books home with me to read. Sarah thanks the Americans who helped construct her community library and says, “It’s easy.”
USAID has been assiduously assisting Rwandan students in improving their reading skills for over ten years. The outcomes have been remarkable because of the dedication of both students and teachers: in just three years, Rwandan pupils were improving significantly as readers, even though the pandemic was causing learning losses throughout the world. As a matter of fact, they improved their comprehension of texts by 15% and their reading skills by an astounding 33%. Since most kids don’t have books at home, neighborhood libraries serve as a ray of hope for most students.
Successful collaborations between the local government and development partners such as USAID give rise to community libraries. The American people have provided over half a million locally made books and supported the creation of 13 community libraries around Rwanda in 2023 through USAID Uburezi Iwacu. While USAID provided books, furniture, librarian training, and parent mobilization to foster a flourishing reading culture in Rwanda, the local government provided the venues.
Sarah is only ten years old. Nothing is impossible for her if she works hard and is determined enough. Hope for the nation will be carried by her generation’s doctors, teachers, nurses, farmers, and leaders. They are all appreciative of the community libraries for fostering their passion for reading in them.
