Wangari the Storyteller was the featured performer at Kenya National Library Kids Book Club on July 15, 2017.

The Kenya National Library Service is a body of the Government of Kenya established to develop, promote, establish and equip libraries in the East African nation. One of the most iconic of the libraries on its books is the one on Ngong Road which has been around for many many years; I used this place when I was a high school student in the early 1990s. Sadly for the next generation, the property has been inaccessible as it underwent a reconstruction until they were done with the remodelling.

Even with the work in progress, this blogger discovered a wonderful thing this past weekend; the library is actually open for business now. This knowledge came when I was invited for something that they have been hosting for the last four years called their Kids Book Club. The club which is hosted every third Saturday of the month involves young kids being given activities that will encourage them to start the love of the written word.

This July, the treat on offer was Wangari the Storyteller. Wangari has become synonymous with the Storymoja Festival which is happening later in the year as the producer of the children’s program. When she isn’t slogging hard to get our premier literary festival up and running, she is writing and performing a storm. She has performed on stages locally and all over the world over the last decade as well as being the writer of the children’s book Mti Wa Milele which is also in English as The Forever Tree.

At the children’s library, 90 children were in hand to listen to one of the best in the country telling stories and it was magic. One of the stories was on a farm and involved the animals therein chasing the hell out of each other in anger for the silliest of reasons. It was such a fun story.

 

After the fun games, the kids were ushered to the shelves to pick books as some of the parents went for a briefing with the library staff led by Mary Munanga and Beatrice Ombati. They told the parents how simple it was to be a member of the library. You fill in a form and borrow two books every two weeks at Kshs5 each. Not a bad deal. They also started with the organising of the next edition of the kids club which will involve a trip to the Karura Forest on September 16. Check out her speaking below.

After this Kinyanjui Kombani donated some of his titles to the library and everyone left at their convenience.

This article has been reblogged from http://www.jamesmurua.com/wangari-storyteller-features-kenya-national-library-kids-book-club/