World Read Aloud Day, held annually on the first Wednesday of February, is celebrated by thousands of communities across the globe, in thousands of different ways.
In South Africa, one organization in particular works to ensure that World Read Aloud Day is a nationwide success. Nal’ibali, a South African reading-for-enjoyment campaign that launched in 2012, seeks to spark and embed a culture of reading across South Africa. Their mission is to ensure that reading, writing and sharing stories – in all South African languages – becomes a regular part of everyday life for everyone. As such, World Read Aloud Day presents the perfect opportunity for Nal’ibali to unite communities through power of reading aloud.
Close to 1,000 children gathered in Mofolo park, Soweto, to listen to Nal’ibali’s World Read Aloud Day story in 2018.
As South Africa has 11 official languages (many of which have been marginalized in favor of English and Afrikaans), each year Nal’ibali translates and prints a copy of a specially-selected World Read Aloud Day story in all 11 languages. “The thought of thousands and thousands of children across our nation all hearing the same story in their language, on the same day, is a magical one that brings a tremendous sense of unity and joy,” says Sally du Perez, senior communications officer at Nal’ibali. “We have started to see the day as a beacon of hope for what can be achieved in terms of our country’s literacy crisis.”
Nal’ibali’s 2019 World Read Aloud Day ambassador, author and literacy activist Lebohang Masango, reads the official story aloud to over 200 children at Sandton Library, Johannesburg.
Nal’ibali’s first World Read Aloud Day celebration was held in 2013, reaching 13,000 children. By 2019, that number grew to almost 1.6 million participants, making it one of the largest national World Read Aloud Day celebrations in the world. “We had no idea how much support would grow and grow,” says Sally. “The fact that the event is spreading across the country and that people are owning it is exactly the type of change we’ve been working toward.”
Nal’ibali promotes not just literacy, but unity as well. They aim to connect different readers of all ages, backgrounds, and languages, creating a breathtaking example of the joy that World Read Aloud Day and the sharing of stories can bring.
In the coming years, Nal’ibali hopes to continue growing and involving readers from more diverse and far-reaching communities. “What we’d love to see in the future is a pan-African World Read Aloud Day celebration where countries across the continent join together to read a single story in all our languages,” says Sally. Stay tuned to see how they will celebrate the next World Read Aloud Day 2020, held on February 5, along with all the other millions of participants across the world!
To contact Nali’bali, please email info@nalibali.org. To learn more about the organization, visit them at their site or via Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.