READING INSPIRES CONFIDENCE!

In a research conducted on two hundred and three children from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds in the U.K by two university Professors; one of the major findings was that children’s confidence in their ability to read words and sentences affected their overall self-confidence and self-esteem.

Precious a 13-year-old boy in Basic 6 had never read or owned a storybook prior to the 26^th of February 2021 when the KIR Foundation team visited his school Model Primary School 2, Azuabie, Port Harcourt to set up a reading corner. The major objective of the project is to inspire change through reading by giving underserved public school children access to books, especially storybooks. The KIR Foundation team read to the students and during the interactive session, some of the students who read or answered questions were given their own personal storybooks.

Our team was really amazed to discover that for most of the children including Precious, this was their first time being read to, getting a storybook or reading one. The children were rather shy and nervous when we asked for volunteers to come forward and read. However, although Precious was nervous at first because he had never read in front of his school mates and despite stumbling over some few words here and there he gave his best shot and read to everyone present. Precious was so excited about accomplishing this feat that he began bragging about it right away. We saw first-hand what the ability to read could do for an underserved kid in a public school. Imagine if every child in public schools like Precious, had access to their own personal books; we believe it would definitely improve their self-confidence and self-esteem.

So far, KIR Foundation has been able to give this gift of reading to children in 15 schools across Nigeria through our 10th Anniversary Book Drive Campaign. Your investment in this project is an invaluable gift that will give children in public and rural schools the life skills they need to navigate their future. Kindly visit this link to learn more about this Campaign.

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