Join the "Let’s ‪#‎buildourlibraries‬ " campaign

"Literacy is a bridge between misery and hope..." - Kofi Annan

Magical Books started a game on International Literacy Day- encouraging people to share pictures of them reading to either themselves or others to show how much they valued literacy. This game has turned into a campaign that would span for a week starting from today to commemorate International Literacy Week.

In Nigeria, 35million adult illiterates exist and 10.5 million children are out of school ( Wike, 2013). These people are a helpless lot! Imagine if you couldn’t read, write or count. How would your life have been? Can you picture that? We can’t afford to have those numbers rise. If they do, Nigeria would be a bomb waiting to explode.

Everyone needs to have access to books and libraries. We need to invest in well stock community libraries because not everyone can afford to buy books from a store. Libraries can organise literacy programs for those who can’t read or write.

Recently, Bestselling author, James Patterson vowed to donate 25,000 copies of his illustrated children’s books to Baltimore. According to AP Entertainment, Patterson had donated millions of dollars to bookstores and libraries in the U.S. In Nigeria, we pride ourselves on having produced quite a number of multi billionaires and multimillionaires when a sizeable amount of citizens can’t even read and write! Can someone tell us how they are giving back to the society?

We certainly need to bridge the gap between misery and hope by investing in literacy. We are starting the #buildourlibraries campaign because we want to get the attention of major stakeholders who can help build ultramodern libraries and maintain them. We want libraries that are aesthetically designed that would get the attention of children just like the cinemas and play areas they like to visit. We want those libraries filled with colourful, contemporary, and recent books for children, teenagers and adults. We want each community library to be at least 30 minutes’ walk from every home. We know that this is possible. If religious organisations can set this target and achieve them, we also can. It is possible if you and I believe it and spread this campaign.

How to join?

Share a picture of you reading or reading to your friends and family with us via facebook, twitter, or email (magicalbooks4all@gmail.com). This is to reiterate that you value literacy, you can read and you want others who can’t to be able to.

Twitter: When sharing this picture, please tweet @magical_books1, use the hashtags - #buildourlibraries ‪#‎Nigeria‬ ‪#‎ILW‬ and include a personal message. For example, “I value literacy and I want to see community libraries in Nigeria”.

Facebook: Kindly share this picture with Magical Books. https://www.facebook.com/magicalbooksinitiative
When sharing this picture, please include the hashtags  #buildourlibraries #Nigeria #ILW #Magicalbooksnigeria and in addition to your personal message, kindly include this: “You too can join in this campaign by sharing a picture of you reading to yourself or friends and family. Make sure you include the hash tags so others can join in. By joining in, you are making everyone know how much you value literacy. You are also drawing the attention of major stakeholders to #buildourlibraries

Email: Just send this picture to us and include your name and message.

At the end of the International Literacy Week, we hope to have received 50,000 pictures to get the attention of 5,000 wealthy Nigerians who can help build our libraries. Do you value literacy? Would you want our nation to sustain itself? Then join this campaign NOW!