PORTIA DERY’S “A FUN DAY FOR READING AND WRITING”

On Saturday, 20th September 2014, Portia Dery organised a programme to inculcate reading and writing into the youngsters of today. The programme was dubbed “A Fun Day for Reading and Writing”. It took place at the Northern Regional Library in the Tamale Metropolis and was well patronized.  In Africa, many know the safest place to keep a treasure is in a book because people do not like to read. This is what Portia Dery seeks to curb. A very noble gesture by the young writer and blogger. By 8am, there were already a good number of kids at the library gate although the event was to start at 9 am. The event started exactly at 9 am with 10 kids paired at a table with a mentor. The children were in good hands because; mentors for the day were experienced and passionate writers, bloggers, development workers, teachers, an officer from United Nations, a journalist and ICT specialists among others. Mentors spent an hour and half reading with or to the kids, interacting with them.  Mentors for that day were Mash Cudjoe, Cecilia Sefa Amofowaa, Fatima Mohamed, Yakubu Suweiba, Yaro Ruka, Bruce kwesi, Angelica Gyogluu, Maccarthy Lomotey, Wunpini (from Camfed), Eryram Dzitrie, Nashiru Mohammed Muntasir, Mohamed Jaward Mohamed, Zabsonre Issah. Here are some of the moments in pictures:

Afterwards, there was a lunch break and kids were treated to sobolo and biscuits. Next the kids were introduced to a game of cards (here when a word is mentioned, kids are supposed to spell it by arranging the word on a table) where each table of kids with their mentor had to compete against each other. next was “reading with a swag” each mentor was given a reading tablet (kindle) to read with the kids, kids were excited to just touch the tablets, they had fun scrolling pages and reading out loud, each child had the opportunity to use the tablet. Finally the event came to an end with presentation of reading books to the children.

According to the organiser, Portia Dery, (pictured above) “A  fun day of reading and writing was organized with the sole aim of luring children to read and write. Therefore my team and I wanted to make the event as informal as possible so as to give children a very enabling environment to enjoy the day’s activities”.