At 12 years old, Charity already knows how to advocate for herself and her education. She attends Ntawo Primary school in Uganda, one of our partners. We built a Literacy Center at Ntawo in 2019, when Charity was just starting her education. With the Literacy Center always at her fingertips, Charity has excelled in her classes. She enjoys the library so much that when her family had to move to a different town, she begged to be allowed to keep attending Ntawo, despite the longer commute.
When Ntawo Primary school began partnering with Sister Schools, they didn’t have a library. All the donated books they received were stored in a corridor between classroom buildings. The space was dingy, crowded, and unorganized: it was nearly impossible for students to find books, with no systems in place for using them during school hours or borrowing them to take home.
That all changed in 2019 when we built a proper library on the school grounds and set Ntawo up with the training necessary to see their books utilized to their fullest potential.
Today, the Literacy Center is overseen by Terezia, a trained librarian, who also teaches English at the school. With the support of ongoing trainings and site visits from our Literacy staff, Terezia has expertly organized the materials by reading level and subject, so students can easily find what they are looking for, integrated new approaches to teaching reading in the classroom, and built library time into every student’s day.
As a result, English is now consistently Ntawo student’s best-performing subject in annual exams – a huge accomplishment.
For students like Charity, Terezia’s work has been life changing. Charity is now a book lover – she spends much of her free time in the library. She’s proud of the fact that she can read quickly, and knows how to look up new words in the dictionary by herself.
When tragedy struck her family last year and her father passed away, Charity found some comfort in her books and reading. As the family adjusted to life without dad, Charity’s mom decided to move the family further out of town in search of cheaper lodgings. But Charity couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her books behind. Thankfully, she’s been able to continue attending Ntawo – and the Literacy Center – even though her commute is longer. She is continuing to study hard and practice her reading, preparing for the important Primary Leaving Exam she will take next year, which will determine her options for continuing education.
We’re proud to work with dedicated staff like Terezia to help students like Charity thrive! Reading and English language skills opens so many doors for students in Uganda, and access to a well-stocked, well-staffed library is the key.