Tanzania needs to have more book clubs

There is a great saying; “readers are leaders,” the assertion being that one who can read is always in a better socioeconomic position than one who cannot.

Great Tanzanian writers, such as the late Elvis Musiba, Erick Shigongo, Prince Bagenda, to name a few; were firstly avid readers before they began to hone their own literary skills.

Currently, parents, teachers as well as the general public are disappointed with the poor performance of students in our schools.

Worse still, some pupils are reported to complete their primary school education not knowing how to read and write. According to Professor Kelue Okeye, author of “Schooling without Education,” this deterioration of academic performance is a clear testimony of an uncultivated reading culture in the country.

 Okeye defines education as the “acquiring of knowledge and skills” but also as a process of “character formation.” There is no doubt that reading for its own sake has a great effect on the later. Unfortunately many young Tanzanians are not interested in reading except when studying, or more accurately, cramming for exams.

Education experts stress that a good reading culture is what determines students’ success, not only in school but also in life, as it builds a positive attitude, broadens the mind and enhances the child’s ability to advance their knowledge acquisition, which will be applied practically for development of their career.

For Lusekelo Mwalovelo, a librarian at Tanganyika City Library, reading books sharpens the mind. She is positive that all children in the country would benefit greatly by reading books that will broaden their horizons.

She said that book clubs are essential in cultivating cultural reading. For her, the difficult part is how to sustain these clubs by active participation of the members as many have died natural deaths. “There was a reading club at the Tanganyika City Library, at first there was much excitement about it, but now I’m not sure what happened to that club,” she recalls.

Educationists say that book clubs are for those who love reading, whereby they meet at a place of their choice for the purpose of reading books, interacting and discussing what they have read.

Lusekelo is of the view that book clubs are very important as people get time to meet after a long day at work or school, interact and have fun while reading and talking about wonderful books.

“People will meet after a busy day to read books, have reading competitions and awarding winners. It can be very enjoyable and they also get a chance to learn new things. It’s very disappointing that the library book club did not work out.

 I think this is because most of us were not raised in a reading environment when we were younger, and we started reading when we joined Class One, which is very late for building a good reading habit,” she notes.

The managing director of House of Wisdom book shop, Georgette Saliboko, says that for a country to develop, its people must be literate, knowledgeable and educated. “In order to attain all this, people should build a tendency of reading from a very early age,” she says.

Georgette thinks book clubs are a great idea, saying bookshop owners have a great role to play in reducing the deep seated apathy towards reading encouraging people to enjoy reading.

“It is important that people have attractive places they can go to, sit and read books. So it’s not only up to educators to create book clubs; owners of bookshops should create a nice environment for their customers to relax and read books,” she says.

The deputy principal of St Joseph Nursery and Primary School in Mbezi Beach, Edwin Mihayo, says book clubs are a great way to allow children and adults to spend some time doing something that is both fun and constructive.

“I think this thing should start at home. Parents should read story books for their children because if we create these clubs while our children and adults don’t have a reading culture which they develop from childhood, book clubs would be useless without readers,” he observes.

Soma café owner, Dimere Kitunga, says that people often come to her café to read. “This is a book café where people can come, have soft drinks and relax while reading their books. Book lovers have indeed found a home at the cafe in Mikocheni area, where they can feed their passion for books.

“The aim of establishing something like this is to break those misconceptions that when people read, it is because of certain examinations, which is not true. You can read for pleasure” she notes.

She added that people are always encourage to form groups, readings clubs at Soma Café read a wide range of genres both fiction and non-fiction as well as form discussion groups and even writing books should they wish to.

 In addition to such groups Soma Cafe members and a team of book lovers carry books and mats to the streets of Dar es Salam twice a weeks and invite people to sit down, relax and enjoy the written word.

their minds and because of reading books they will know on how to do things for the development of the country and individually too.

“I think having these book clubs will help to promote reading and when you reads different of books you get that extra education and you will know many things and above all you will have confidence when planning to do your things because you have the knowledge” she said

She added that reading not only broadens the minds but these clubs will help people to discover a lot of things and to learn about life.

[email protected]