Towards A Better Reading Culture: Nascent Facilitates Book-writing For Cameroonians

“We have received book donations from Western partners in the past. As interesting as the books are, our readers do not relate to most of their themes, and we thought it essential to spice up these stocks with books dwelling on locally relevant content, themes and characters,” explains Mary Wong, Education Programme Manager for Nascent Solutions Incorporated, Cameroon. “Relevant content is that which is relatable to the reader. For example, books that talk about the Coronavirus pandemic, Cameroon culture, food, our way of life, etc., will naturally pique the interest of local readership,” she explains.

The books to emerge from the two hands-on trainings will be published with the co-sponsorship of Nascent and copies acquired and distributed to the 240 libraries in selected primary schools in the country. “Publishing will be done locally in order to encourage Cameroonian writers, publishers and printers,” Wong points out.

One of the Yaounde workshop participants, Abdul Raheem Ndem, a Mathematics teacher and student in Educational Administration from Garoua in the North Region, said Bloom enables him to write interesting books for children. “I have already started using the software by writing some story books during the workshop. I am so elated because the software teaches me how to pass on knowledge through the books I create. I am grateful to Nascent Solutions for organising the training,” Raheem told Cameroon Tribune.

Louis Pascal Ngono, a specialist in linguistics technology with the Summer Institute of Linguistics and one of the workshop facilitators, explained that Bloom allows for the creation and illustration of books for different levels. “With the software, you can also write and illustrate secondary school Mathematics books,” Ngono said, noting that illustrations enhance understanding for learners. According to him, using Bloom does not require prior mastery of the computer. “It is designed for starters in computer use and is very simple. It not only helps in creating a book, but also enables the user to understand computer use better,” Ngono pointed out. .

Bloom was developed by SIL International in 2014 and is being used today in more than 60 countries all over the world. It w...