Text
of a paper presented by Richard Mammah, MD/Editor-in-Chief, Sunbird Africa
Media, publishers of the pan-African weekly, The Difference at the Edgewise
Reading Promotions event held at Government College, Ikorodu on May 22, 2013.
The Convener, Principals, all other guests,
students, Ladies and gentlemen
This week in which we have gathered is a
most important one. Even as we are here trying to better understand the
importance of reading to us, the whole world is at the moment paying tribute to
one of the most important contributors to the reading enterprise that we have
known till date, across Nigeria and Africa. I am referring to that most
illustrious writer and son of Africa, Professor Chinua Achebe. I now invite us
all to stand up and pay our respects to him. May we rise up now and observe a
one-minute silence in honour of the writer of great books like Things Fall
Apart, Chike and the River, No Longer at Ease, There was a Country, How the
Leopard Lost its Claws, Arrow of God, Beware Soul Brother, Girls at War and
Morning Yet on Creation Day.
(May His soul rest in peace. Amen)
In paying tribute to Achebe and indeed the
writers in the nation, we are acknowledging the basic fact that without writers
there would not be books. And without books there would be nothing to read.
Now
this would be scary! A world without books? That would be a tough one as it
would mean there would be no schools, no teachers, no principals, no students,
no professionals and no progress as we know it today.
Look around you for a minute and make the
connections. The hall in which you are sitting was designed by an architect. He
read books. The teacher that stands in front of you went to school. And read
books. The parents that sent you to school went to school also -where they read
books. The television you watch, the mobile phones you use, the sandals on your
feet, the clothes on your body, the water you drink, the food you eat, the bed
on which you sleep and the language that you speak have all benefited and
continue to benefit from this great world of books.
For everything in the universe to benefit
from books means that there must be a very deep connection that we all have to
books. Yes there is. And I would explain it.
Before humans came to the world, there were
already other species on the earth. Whether you are basing your story on the Bible
account or on the research of archaeologists, there is evidence that other
creatures were on the earth before man came.
But man’s coming changed the entire
picture. Man was Homo Sapiens - thinking man – and this was the critical
difference. For the first time in the history of the universe, there was now a
created being that could think!
Thinking indeed is very powerful. Hear what
the Christian Bible has to say about this activity: ‘As a man thinketh in his
heart, so is he!’ Yes, thinking truly is everything.
We are in school now and we have thoughts.
Someone in this hall has thoughts to be a doctor. If you follow it through and
it aligns with God’s original will for you, you will truly become the doctor
you are presently thinking to be.
As a growing child, former American
President Bill Clinton, thought he could be President. One thing led to another
and he became his thoughts. You too can become your thoughts.
Because thoughts are so powerful, there is
therefore a responsibility imposed upon us to ‘guard our hearts with all
diligence.’ And this is where reading comes in.
Reading is a critical feeder for our
thought process. Through reading, we come in contact with information that is
stored in the brain against the day it will be required to be used. For example
from the first day of this school term till date, our teachers have been
instructing us in line with the already defined scheme of work. At the end of
the term, examinations would be conducted with questions that are taken from
this scheme. It is how much and how well we have imbibed what we have been
taught that helps guarantee how well we do in the examinations.
But then how exactly does this work? Two
words are very important to help us understand the reading process so we can
fully understand and appreciate how to awaken the reader within.
The first is recognition and the second
interpretation.
To read requires that we recognize the text
characters in which we are reading. For example to read in English would
require a sound knowledge of the 26-alphabet English Language. But this
knowledge would not automatically confer you with the ability to read in say
Arabic or Chinese which have totally different alphabetical scripts.
Also, beyond alphabet recognition there is
the point about the words that are available in a language and their normal or
regular patterns of coordination and arrangement. For example, when the English
reader meets the word Professor in a text, his idea is of a senior lecturer in
a University. For the French reader, even when the ‘Professor’ is also an
academic, the reference does not really confer an element of class or rank!
And on the arrangement of words, we should
note that languages have different forms of ordering. While the average English
sentence uses the SVO structure, several other languages use different
syntactic systems in the main.
The second critical word that we need to
understand is Interpretation. After recognizing words, we need to interpret
them.
To interpret involves conferring meaning.
And this can only be done from an already pre-assigned system of meaning
values. For example, in nursery school, children are taught to recognize
shapes. While the adult reader finds this funny and simplistic, the truth is
that the children are at this early stage being handed critical meaning markers
that would shape their lives continually. It is from these meaning markers that
we all have been given that interpretation comes.
So when we talk of interpretation we are
really referring to taking the words and passages that we are being asked to
assign meaning to, and matching them with our pre-existent meaning markers that
we had built up over time.
What reading does for us then is to help us
develop a stronger interpretation base. As we continue to read, we increase the
number of words that we are familiar with as well as the permissible forms in
which they can be used. This is what comes in handy when we have to write new
compositions and speak extemporaneously to audiences.
You cannot give what you do not have. If
you do not continue to read, you are starving your data base. On the day you
will be required to write that essay or make that speech you will find
yourself, as we say in these parts, ‘eating your mouth’ and not bringing out
the words that should be flowing. In that day, it would not be anybody else’s
fault. You made your bed yourself and can now enjoy your embarrassment!
But this would not be your portion. So pick
up that book now and read. And when you are done, pick up another one and read.
And when you are also done, pick up yet another one and read! This is the only
way to go.
Thank you for listening. And God bless you.
Richard Mammah
