They Can Read to Me.
I visit my local libraries a lot. No matter what country, town and state I am in, libraries have always had a magical appeal for me. I remember as a freshly minted high (or secondary) school graduate while waiting for the interminable university strikes that were common in my home country then to be over. I would board any of the popular yellow buses (called Danfos) from home in Airport quarters at the stop appropriately named “Airport” to the “PWD” (Public Works Department) bus stop and make the what-seemed-like-a-really long trek to the Lagos State Library next to the Ikeja High Court.
Fast forward here to the US, I have spent countless hours in various libraries nationwide. First, the Norristown Main Library in Norristown, Pennsylvania, then the Williamson County Library in Franklin, Tennessee and now the Parsippany Township Library in Parsippany, New Jersey. The one in Norristown holds fond memories as that’s where I studied from library opening to closing, for months, preparing for exams to enable me reciprocate my pharmacy license from Nigeria to the US (Ah, did I study or what back then?)
When I am in a library though, I not only study, I also people-watch and observe. And this past week, I had a feeling of déjà vu as soon as I walked in to take my seat. I saw two older women (like years-past-retirement older), reading and as soon as I heard the one party reading, I was taken back ten years to the Norristown library where I had heard the same type of hesitant reading. At that time, it was from one of two older men seated at a large mahogany table. It turns out that I was right and I was indeed sitting across from practical peer-style adult literacy teaching, again.
I have always known that being born into the English language (as a Native English Speaker) does not guarantee literacy in any form. Because reading literacy is a skill that needs to be taught by assimilation and deliberate practice after active teaching.
Many do not get this opportunity. So they grow up as functional illiterates, holding down a job and retiring from it, but, unable to read (like either of the male and female parties in the pairs I described earlier)
I could think, what a tragedy. But No! These brave people (man and woman) were getting the help they needed even at post-retirement ages. This to me, is the beautiful part of the story. It’s never over until it’s truly over. I actually proceeded to sit and I let the sounds of the hesitant reading and loving peer corrections wash over me as I typed away. And I thanked the good Lord for the privilege of being born into a family that allowed me to get a good education. Reminds me that privilege can be invisible to us if we let it.
As I reflect on what my responsibility as a woman with the gift of high (and higher) education is to help mitigate illiteracy in whatever form, I turn around and ask or challenge you to make sure that you, my dear reader, are getting the help you need. And this challenge also applies to me. I will ask for and I will get the help I need. Amen.
Resources and Readings
Adult Reads on Courage and Living a Life of Inner Satisfaction; The Art of Decision Making by Joseph Birkart, Win the Day by Mark Batterson, The Leap of Your Life by Tommy Baker, Deep Work by Cal Newport and Shut Your Monkey by Danny Gregory.
For the Kids; Trouble at Table 5 Series by Tom Watson, Andrew Henry’s Meadow by Doris Burn, Chef-A-Rella by Marie Agerton, Smile by Raina Telgemeier, Fish in a Tree by Allison Mullaly, Save Me a Seat by Gita Varadarajan, Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina.
What else is on your beach table for these frenetic final days of summer?
Please share thoughts about your ‘book lists’ with me at fabeditoronline@gmail.com
“It is only the first step that is difficult.”
