The "official" bits of the conference ended today and tomorrow we go touring. I'm going off to Bagamoyo, which has some historical things, as well as a lovely beach or something. I'm actually not all that certain what we're doing there - I'm just going to get on the bus and follow the tour group - organized by the conference folks, of course. However, hopefully the tour will be better organized than the conference was!
Yup, the conference was rather disorganized, and I must admit I was a little disappointed with the keynote speakers and plenary sessions. One of the guys, a famous Kenyan author Ngugi... (I completely haven't a clue how to spell his second name!) was quite good. He had some brilliant things to say - I was scribbling down all sorts of quotes in my notebook during his talks. But he certainly wasn't what I would call a dynamic speaker. But he did have some really interesting thoughts - so many that I actually went and bought his new book! I'm looking forward to reading it, as he had so many wonderful things to say about the use of African languages for literacy, for learning, for creative writing and expression and art.
But there was a keynote speaker today who simply read a paper in a very monotone voice. And to tell you the honest truth, I have no idea what the paper was about! The monotony of his voice lost me in the first few minutes of the paper, and I just never quite figured out what he was talking about in the end.
But that being said, some of the other parallel sessions that I went to were really good - inspiring, in fact. I came away from most of those sessions wanting to go out and teach. I wanted to get my hands on some books, or on some people who can write, and start getting them to write some books so we could go out and teach some folks how to read! I think in my next life I'm going to be a primary school teacher so I can do reading activities all day long ('cause I know fun reading games is the whole job of a primary school teacher :) ).
Today I went to a session led by some South Africans who lead writer's workshops and publish easy reading stories for adults. It was so inspiring to listen to them describe how they do their writer's workshops, and I got some great ideas for how we can improve the workshops we do for our writers. So many of their ideas can transfer to folks we know who are learning to write in their own languages (not just learning basic literacy, but who are learning to write stories and books).
Once again I realized how priviliged I am to be able to do the job that I have! While some situations are far from ideal, for the most part, my job consists of enabling people to become teachers and writers. I love to write, and I've always wanted to write my own books, and now, in my job, I get to help people write their own books. And the sessions that I went to today gave me a much bigger picture and some great ideas of how to do that better, and what it all involves in the actual small-scale publishing "industry". Which is what we're doing, actually, though I have absolutely no previous training in the whole field of publications! So I feel a bit more enabled myself and a bit more energized and inspired and ready to get back to work!
So I'm really glad I came, and it was definitely a worthwhile few days here.
And now that the conference is over, I can start thinking about the beach! Ah, the beach. But now that I'm all inspired and encouraged, I feel like I want to get back to work! But first, the beach. Then the work. Beach, then work.
1 comment:
Ngugi wa Thiong'o!!! I'm so jealous! I wrote my thesis on his Njamba Nene children's books. I have so many questions!
I really do recommend reading "Decolonising the Mind," "Moving the Centre" and "The Barrel of a Pen." His classics may be a bit out of date due to the imapact of internet but still pretty insightful.
Most of his fiction ("The Wizard the Crow" especially) is worth reading too.
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