March 2008: the Power of a Book
March 14, 2008: 10:00AM break at the Jacaranda school: Clement, a Standard 4 student, borrows a book his friend Blessings has received from his American pen-pal, Sam...

Standing alone in the middle of all his friends playing, laughing, running, pushing him, Clement reads his book, "Hop on Pop", by Dr Seuss. He keeps on reading, no matter what, totally absorbed, fascinated. Little by little, his friends gather around him and start reading along, enjoying the illustrations and the clever rhyming words. Ten minutes, fifteen minutes later, Clement and his friends sit down and keep on reading out loud, going through the book once, twice, eight times in a row. Clement that day did not take his cup of phala, the porridge we give daily to the children. He did not even think about it... He was in another world, the dreaming world only books can create...

On that morning, Clement showed us the power of a book and the passion and obstination children possess. The Jacaranda school children do not have access to well written, entertaining books in English. When given one, they forget everything and read, read, read, hungry to discover and learn, at the same time improving their English.

Help us give Clement and his friends reading books in English! You can directly send books to: Jacaranda school, P.O. Box 5708, Limbe, Malawi. Or you can make a contribution that will purchase books and school supplies by clicking here.