This is the real book challenge

It sounds a little banal to point out that we are now living in the social media era. I told a friend the other day that while our parents woke up looking for the morning newspaper, we reach for our phones and log onto Facebook and Twitter among other platforms. The above social media platforms have become trendsetters and some have taken note of this. Public figures now clamour for presence on social media while traditional media seeks validation from social media by bragging about the number of followers they have or simply by picking views from there instead of the traditional call-ins. Recently the trend on social media has been about challenges. We had the ice bucket challenge that passed by us as spectators. Where are you going to get a bucket full of freezing water when electricity and water supply are not that reliable in this part of the world? The social media challenges that we have managed to relate to and partake in are the one of gratitude and the book challenge. The gratitude one requires you to post something of the things or people you are grateful for in your life and like the ice bucket one, you go ahead to nominate other people to do the same. The book challenge requires one to list 10 books that have proved to be the most significant of all the books read in one’s life so far. I have seen quite a number of lists posted by my friends and indeed two have nominated me to make my own list of books. Going through the lists that my friends have been posted got me thinking a lot about books and my challenge even bigger. It was easy for example to notice that most of the book titles were by western writers with the few African ones being the compulsory literature books many had to read while going through school. I have written before in this column about the need for East Africans to write books. Therefore my book challenge is once again to call on more people to write, especially those who have enjoyed more Christmases than some of us. I am tired of seeing older people bragging about the things they did or witnessed 20 or 30 years ago and thinking they are going to die with all that knowledge. It would be nice for example if people on Facebook could come up with a list of 10 books by Rwandan, Ugandan, Kenyan, Tanzanian or Burundian authors depending on which country one resides in. I am sure the authors exist but what lacks is our interest and desire to spend on acquiring their books. I also wish to challenge our governments to subsidise books and the sale of books so that more people can develop the habit of reading. I know our governments subsidised ICT after seeing the benefits. I want to think that the benefits of reading a good book are clear to our policy makers too. With that clarity, I would subsidize bookshops and even when dealing with street vendors I would have some mercy for those selling reading materials particularly books. It is not enough to always bemoan the poor reading culture when we are not doing much to address it. East Africans love a good party and every now and then one has to attend a graduation party, wedding reception or even a birthday party. One of the dilemmas for such occasions is finding a good gift for the main celebrant with many settling for the usual kitchen ware or photo frames. I wish to challenge East Africans to think of having books on top of the things to consider giving each other as gifts. Those with little children are even better placed to start reading to them and buying for them books now. What bothers me most is how this reading crisis continues to exist alongside our grandiose visions for development in each East African nation. How do we expect to own our development when we are lagging behind on the basics like reading and writing books? The book challenge for East Africans should not be about which 10 books they love most but which 10 books have you read this year? Or which 10 books do you want to read. Or even which 10 bookshops can one name.

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This is the real book challenge