In our house there is always a big dilemma about costume choice in the weeks leading up to World book week. It’s not unusual for around twenty characters to be considered and rejected before we finally choose. Thankfully this year I only had one to dress and we finally came up with Wanda ( Where’s Wally’s girlfriend) without to many problems.
This got me thinking about the whole concept of World Book Day and reflecting on a family holiday in The Gambia when I was a child. I remember being astounded that the children there could not go to school unless they had their own pens and paper. Being a fairly typical ten year old child who’d moan and groan every morning about getting up for school, I remember being shocked by the Gambian children’s hunger for learning.
The memory of those children inspired me to search for a charity that supplies books to Third World Countries; and my search lead me to the Book Bus. This fantastic organisation supplies children’s books to countries such as Zambia, India and Malawi.
I’m not sure how much they understood but from now on we will donate to The Book Bus each World Book Day as a reminder of just how privileged we are and that we mustn’t take our access to education and a good book for granted.
If this entry feels a little worthy, check in tomorrow for the antidote – the children and I are off to IKEA, I can feel my stress levels rising already!