As we all know, reading has always been shown to be beneficial for expanding our minds and giving us more ideas. Besides, it also aids us when it comes to being equipped with information. However, with technology growing faster, people rarely get time to go back to books; rather they now tend to be hooked to other devices and hardly get time to do their reading once in a while. Jean Marie Habimana, the director of operations and partnership at Ready for Reading, a local non-governmental organisation in Eastern Province believes that when it comes to reading, it’s all about creating time for it. He explains that this could be as simple as coming up with a schedule on what you need to read and for how many days in a week. “Although sometimes it’s difficult to find time to read given that we are living in a busy world with busy schedules, there is always a way one can adjust and adapt to reading at least once in a while, depending on your schedule or what you want to achieve,” he says. Habimana advises that one should as well try to go broader when it comes to reading. One can read from fiction, and nonfiction books, newspapers and magazines- this is one way that can guarantee you to get the most out of reading. Emerithe Musanabera, a student at University of Kigali says from her understanding, when it comes to making the most out of her reading, the first thing she does is getting to learn new words and practice after. “When I come across some new words, I try to master them and after I will try to use them in my daily conversations depending on what the conversation is all about,” she says. This, according to her, plays a big role when it comes to not only expanding her mind but also boosting her vocabulary level. In addition to this, Musanabera says making a summary of what you have read helps a lot. In her case, she says it depends on whether she is reading for examinations or just for enriching her reading culture. Meanwhile, Habimana also notes that people should try to make reading part of them, citing that reading as a culture comes with so many benefits. Just like American chess player and author Josh Waitzkin puts it, ‘we learn by pushing ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reaches of our abilities,’ reading can grow and enable us explore various challenging aspects of life.
