Great leaders share culture through books
WHEN last did you read a good book? Just to get lost in another world and stay there for some time learning new words, the use of words and simply savouring each moment?
As a publisher and a book lover, I hate finishing a good book as it means having to find a new one – something which isn’t always that easy.
I grew up around books and still share books with my sister and brothers today. When we meet, we speak about the books we’ve read and what we learnt from them.
It’s a real book club moment to realise that we all have learnt and experienced something different but equally valuable.
It’s important to me that we grow a nation of strong and powerful readers, but how do we change the phrase “black Africans don’t read”?
We have good books about South Africa written by black South Africans. Books that are illustrated and have great story lines about our country.
This is how we share our cultures and tell our stories. Let’s discover the treasures and knowledge which are hidden inside books so we can share this with future generations.
We have a hand in what the education system is teaching our children.
We are also fully responsible for what happens to them. Let’s guide and teach our children well as we keep their minds active. In my childhood, every household owned a Dover stove. In a typical scene, mother would be making supper and the whole family would be be gathered in the candle-lit kitchen listening to the radio or to our parents telling stories. We didn’t worry about data or load-shedding and it was this family time that bonded us together and instilled my love of words and stories.
Storytelling has been around for so many years; let’s preserve that. Let’s find time to read to our children and teach them how to read and write in their mother tongue. Let’s build that culture of reading and sharing words and story worlds.
Great leaders write and read books. What leader do you want to be? CURRENTLY the Marketing Manager for the Africa region for Cambridge University Press, Wonder Chabalala has worked with and been inspired by books all his life.
He developed a passion for the industry after becoming a part-time bookseller for a large retail company while studying and has since been in the book industry for the past 22 years in both retail and publishing spheres.
Reading and telling stories with your children is a powerful gift to them – it builds knowledge, language, imagination and school success.
For more information about the Nal’ibali Story Power campaign or to download more story benefits in 11 languages, visit www.nalibali.org.
Nal’ibali is driven by PRAESA, 2015 laureate of the world’s largest award for children’s literature and reading promotion, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.