Guest Post: Margriet Ruurs, With The Book Bus in Zambia
Margriet Ruurs is a writer and the author of books like Where We Live, an exploration of neighbourhoods around the world, and Come, Read With Me, which loops a world of stories into a bedtime read. She also happens to live in BC and she has done amazing things in her life, including hiking the Chilkoot Pass in Alaska–on bare feet! Recently, I was delighted to find that my Look! Look! was included in her Global Book Recommendations list for The International Educator.
Earlier this year, Margriet raised funds for The Book Bus, a UK charity founded by Tom Maschler, whose career in publishing spanned over 50 years and who is said to have persuaded the Booker brothers to create the Booker Prize (now the Man Booker Prize) to celebrate the very best in literature.
The Book Bus is dedicated to getting books into the hands of kids, educators, and volunteers in Malawi, Zambia, and Ecuador.
Here Margriet writes about the trip to Zambia following her fundraising.
With the Book Bus in Kitwe, Zambia
With the Book Bus in Zambia
by Margriet Ruurs
We have now arrived in Zambia to work with The Book Bus.
This not-for-profit organization was the brainchild of Tom Maschler in England, who also started the Booker Prize. His friend Quentin Blake, illustrator of all of the Roald Dahl books, is The Book Bus’s patron. His art decorates all of The Book Bus’s vehicles.
Incredibly friendly staff welcomed us as our public bus pulled into Kitwe in northern Zambia.
During our first few days of working with children we are seeing first hand the effect The Book Bus programs have on children here. Our morning school is a cinder block building in the middle of nowhere, with about 300 students who walk long distances in red dust, to come to school. There are no resources at all. But when the Book Bus drives up, the children cheer and come running.
Together, they roll out wicker mats in the sand outside the school, in the shade of a tree. There we unpack our books and papers. Hannah and Aidan (12) worked with primary students while Margriet and Nico (14) worked with intermediate students. We each helped two other, local volunteers. The reading theme for this week is ‘Global Warming’.
The kids love reading
We read books to the students to which they listened breathlessly, and clapped when the story was finished. We discussed the stories, in both English and Bemba. We asked questions about the text and encouraged students to think beyond the story and apply it to their own environment.
Aidan read books to the younger ones and Nico discussed key words with the older students.
We provided activities like a dance game and made and flew paper airplanes as well as decorated African animals copied from a picture book. Tomorrow we discuss boreholes and water wells, using blue paper water drops to show how we use and can conserve water.
The classroom
One of the local volunteers is a young adult who told us that he came from one of today’s schools. He said, “I could not read but really wanted to learn.” When The Book Bus came to his school, it was his chance to learn to read and have access to books. Today he comes back as a volunteer to help kids like him. Meanwhile he will start university. Amazing when you see what kind of school he comes from, with no resources at all… The classroom looks like a chicken coop to us but brings hope to children here.
To those who contributed to the GoFundMe page, Margriet says:
The books we bring and share are truly changing lives here. The “meter of books” that you helped us to provide add so much to their learning.
Thank you for supporting this very important and well run organization!
Margriet and family
With the Book Bus in Kitwe, Zambia. All photos courtesy of Margriet Ruurs.
