Regional reading trends

Boima Sesay, a schoolteacher based in Freetown, Sierra Leone, sees the situation in his country differently. He thinks Sierra Leoneans take reading seriously as a way of life contrary to the general perception that Africans have a poor reading culture.

Sesay said in the west of the country, where he claims the educated class live, many see reading as a part of their culture, but in the north of the country, the situation is the opposite as many persons spent more time on their business ventures or other activities rather than taking up time to read or get a formal education.

Additionally, Sesay said to buttress the government's free and compulsory primary education program, which seeks to help people acquire reading and writing skills, the Sierra Leonean National Library Board has established libraries in almost all parts of the country and at various districts, where citizens can go to have access to books to read, something, which he believes, is an added advantage to boost good reading culture among Sierra Leoneans.

The situation is quite different in many other African countries including Sierra Leone's next-door neighbors Liberia and Guinea, where facilities are lacking to enhance the reading culture of the people.

For example in neighboring Liberia, with a population of almost 3.5 million, there is no public library, while the majority of Liberians do not have access to the Internet because they cannot afford the cost.

Trader Amadu Konneh of Conakry, Guinea, said in a society like his, the primary concern is how people can earn a living. This focus means they will neglect the issue of making reading a cultural practice.

"It's not that we do not love to read as a people, but in my mind, all our concentration is on getting resources to survive and in our determination to do this, we neglect all other things including taking up time to read," he said.

Konneh also believes that the environment and facilities are not in place to enhance a good reading cultural among Guineans. "Many of us do not have access to the Internet and there are no books to be found in the remote parts of the country," he said.

Roland Copper, a Liberian living in the remote northern Liberia county of Nimba, close to the border with Ivory Coast, blamed the poor reading cultural in his country on centralized development. "In this part of the country, there are no Internet services and I assumed that even if the services are available, not many persons would be able to afford to use it. Additionally, there are no libraries or books as is evident in most our schools," he added.

Changing reading habits

In Nigeria, the federal government is encouraging the return of a reading culture with its Bring Back the Book initiative in the school system, although the impact is unknown.

Also on the continent, ALFALIT International is among many organizations working to change the illiteracy trend with a focus of getting people reading.

"Our organization is working in 22 countries around the world including Africa, the Caribbean and parts of Europe," said Dr. Joseph Milton, Vice President of ALFALIT International, while on a trip to Liberia earlier this year, where he had gone to inspect the organization's work to boost literacy aimed at developing skills to make more people to read.

Milton said ALFALIT acknowledges that literacy and lack of reading skills is a problem across the West African state (Liberia), but what his organization is doing is working with relevant partners like USAID to make more people literate. "We have an agreement with USAID and for our Liberia project they are making available 500,000 books. We also have a $2.9 million grant with USAID and are working with other partners to enhance our work," he said.

ALFALIT operations are gradually spreading across Liberia, and the organization's program is gradually taking shape in Angola, which is becoming the third country benefiting from the program after Botswana and Liberia.

(Reporting from Liberia)