Everyone should have access to books including those living on society’s fringe
Victor browses through his Kindle, and stumbles onto a book he can’t stop reading. It’s a story about a child in a wheelchair. It’s a story about someone like him.
By the end of the e-reader training session, Victor, a student at the King George VI School in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, has bookmarked several other stories. He wants to bring his e-reader everywhere and continue diving into the digital adventures he’s uncovering.
Victor, like many other kids in both the developed and developing world, has discovered the joy of getting lost in a good book. Being in a wheelchair with a disease that enlarges his head with fluid doesn’t curb that enthusiasm at all.
Watching Victor–and understanding the immense opportunity beyond the training sessions–gets to the core of what’s possible when books are widely available through cost-effective technology, such as e-readers or mobile phones.
When Worldreader started delivering e-books to the world’s poorest and most remote places three years ago, we set an ambitious goal to bring “Books to all.” Notice that we didn’t say “Books for some” or “Books for those who can afford them” or “Books for a pre-selected part of the global population”.
“Books for all” means providing books and access to books to EVERYONE, including children, teens and adults who are marginalized or living on the fringe of society.
Unfortunately, though, there are significant challenges in reaching these people, one of which involves changing society’s perception.
Lifting the stigma
Children with disabilities are among the most marginalized people in the world, and their disabilities put them at an increased risk of poverty, according to a study released in May by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Worse, the agency found that children with disabilities were three to four times as likely as those without disabilities to become victims of physical or sexual violence while at the same time being less likely to receive adequate health care or education.
Complicating matters even more is the fact that most developing countries have no reliable information on how many of their citizens are children with disabilities, what disabilities they have or how these disabilities affect their lives, UNICEF noted.
The report states, “Childhood deprivations can have lasting effects by limiting access to gainful employment or participation in civic affairs later in life, for example. Conversely, access to and use of supportive services and technology can position a child with a disability to take her or his place in the community and contribute to it.”
It’s this last part–access to and use of technology can position a child with a disability to take his or her place in the community–that resonates most with Worldreader. And, our recent launch at the King George VI School helps prove the theory and strengthens the case that fighting illiteracy could be one way to address a global social issue.
King George VI School: Where kids are kids
If given the chance, what could these King George VI students contribute to their communities and the world? Worldreader empowers children with disabilities around the world with books and reading materials.
The King George VI School is special, and we saw it the first moment we walked in.
Previously a Rhodesian school built in the 1950s for elite kids, it has been converted into a rehabilitation center, school and boarding house that is spacious yet smartly customized for the needs of their students. The school, which runs from kindergarten to high school, is the only one in Zimbabwe for disabled children, so the kids come from all over the country. It also houses 120 boarding students, many of whom have been abandoned by their families and marginalized by society because of their disabilities.
The energy in this place is magical, and you can feel how much hard work and care is put in by the students, teachers and staff. The students, who have a range of disabilities from minor social issues to major physical illnesses, face daily challenges that are difficult for us to imagine. Yet they face these challenges with a smile and a sense of conviction. The kids are full of joy, and go to a variety of classes that not only help them learn but also express their creative sides.
Unlike many schools in the region, it has a 3,000-book library that has taken years to build. With the e-reader program launched in May (the first digital reading program of its kind launched anywhere in Zimbabwe), the students now have access to an additional 6,500 e-books, which were uploaded in a matter of days. Besides library time, the secondary school students will use the e-readers in their English classes. Many students will also be able to read in their dormitories after school hours.
For kids like Victor, the e-reader is not just a device. It’s a life-changing tool, something that will help them shed the stigma they commonly face, wrote Inez Hussey, King George VI’s director.
“I wanted to thank you so much for choosing us for this project. I know it is going to help our children so much with their reading but also more widely with their English and their exams,” she emailed. “We are so grateful to you and so proud to be the first school to use e-readers in Zimbabwe. It’s such an amazing opportunity for our children. Your organization is opening up the world for so many children all over Africa. Thank you for this far-seeing project. We are really pleased to be a part of it.”
If you want to see more kids like Victor prove the world wrong and move from society’s fringe to the mainstream, get involved and sponsor a school or raise money for a Worldreader Kit for an African school you already know. Victor and kids like him deserve the chance.