Thank you!

 In wishing everyone a happy new year, I want especially to thank a very special anonymous donor for supporting SELI’s writing programs last month. Thank you so much for your generosity! That was a boost we needed.  

You see here some of the students in a SELI Young Writers club at the SDA Primary School in Samuel Town, on the rural Freetown Peninsula in Sierra Leone. I have just had a wonderful time typing up forty-two final drafts of the writing pieces these class 5 and 6 students have completed, and they tell me they have more to send me!

I will be returning these final copies along with the 3-4 revised drafts and conferencing notes attached to each one. Each person in the club is trying to complete at least five writing pieces to earn a club booklet of their work (and, as a side benefit, be better prepared for exams and promotions facing them at the end of the school year 👍.) 

I do enjoy reading their work. All of them are putting true personal experiences on paper for the first time. The emotional incidences playing in their heads as they write, matter. What will the effect be on the reader if they put this first, or if they don’t mention that? Every writer reading this knows that such questions don't go away as you advance; they stay with you and make you a better writer. 

For giving these children the chance to learn how to write, we all thank you! 👏

Today's Reality

 

The most common method of instruction in many Sierra Leone schools being rote learning, SELI's Young Writers clubs continue to help develop the literacy skills of upper primary and junior secondary students. 

To master the Altogether-New task of writing their own thoughts, Young Writers club members work on a minimum of five personal experiences of their own choice through ESL-supported process-writing workshops, however long that takes them. When they have gone through all the stages of the writing process on their first personal experience, they receive a club button to pin on their uniforms and a typed copy of their piece.

Those who finish final drafts of at least five experiences receive copies of them in booklet form, in which pieces appear in their chosen order, with their own dedication and an about-the-author paragraph at the end. 

The tables of contents you see here are from booklets that appeared in May at SDA Primary School, Samuel Town (near Waterloo, Sierra Leone). Twenty-six experiences the authors can later convert to stories that would form the text for a children’s book—how’s that for supporting children’s book publishing in Sierra Leone? 

In the Time of COVID 1

Twelve members of SELI's Young Writers clubs are about to receive "My Life" booklets like the ones pictured here from a previous year. To state that more clearly, before schools closed on March 31st, 2020, to protect students and staff from the pandemic, twelve club members had completed five final drafts, qualifying them for a printed booklet of their work. 

Some of the recipients are from these schools in the Koinadugu and Falaba Districts: Dankawalie Secondary School, Dankawalie (4); Kabala Secondary School JSS, Kabala (1); and Movement of Faith Secondary School, Yiraia (3). 

Other recipients are from these schools in the Western Rural Area: REC Primary, Bassa Town (1); Heaven Homes, Joe Town (2); and Seventh Day Adventist Primary School, Samuel Town (1). 

We are delighted that Kalie A. Kamara, one of the club facilitators from Dankawaliehas been writing as well, and will also be receiving a booklet. Let's have more facilitators writing!

"My Life" Books for 2019

In 2019 SELI made twenty-one "My Life" books for Young Writers club members. That is, twenty-one students in the nine clubs completed a minimum of five final drafts of personal experiences, doing all the stages of the writing process within the club meetings: rehearsal, drafting, content conferencing, revising, editing and publishing.

The experiences are published as chapters in the books. The authors also had their photos taken and wrote dedications and "about the author" paragraphs to include. Here are the four members who earned "My Life" books in Heaven Homes Christian Academy in Joe Town, near Waterloo, posing with their teachers, Mr. A.P. Kamara and Mr. A. Kallon, and other members of the club who are on the way to finishing their books this academic year.

 The two members who earned books in R.E.C. Primary School, Bassa Town (near Waterloo) gather with club members and one of their teachers, Ms. M. Kposowa, and their headteacher, Mrs. Yearie Kamara.

At Kabala Secondary School Junior, "My Life" booklets were presented at assembly by the principal, Mr. James S. Conteh.

Writing: Your Own Words, or Someone Else's?

I spent time in the Young Writers content conferencing group at the R.E.C. Primary School in Bassa Town yesterday with Class 4, 5 and 6 boys and girls. You see here one of the facilitators enthusiastically introducing me to the new students.

Halfway through I glanced up at the chalkboard. It laid out in detail one of their lessons that day on how to write a composition. The lesson included copying (to memorize) a sample essay on one of the descriptive topics likely to appear on their public exam at the end of Class 6. Is it ironic or illogical or disjointed or what, that we carried on as if the two writing activities were completely unrelated? The question is, what constitutes writing? Is it writing your own words, or someone else's?

The success of a Young Writers club can be attributed to the staff: the teachers and headmistress who encourage and guide the students—and in this school even sometimes hand out sweets—until they finish their first final drafts, earning "I Am an Author" buttons to wear on their uniforms. We find that often those accomplishments give students the confidence they need to continue writing until they build their My Life booklets all by themselves.

"My Life" Booklets 2018

It's time to say, "Well done!" All the students in the Seli River Writing Project's Young Writers clubs who have completed five final drafts by June 2018 have received personal booklets called "My Life" containing their writing.

Here we see students who received these booklets in Joe Town (near Waterloo), in Dankawalie (near Kabala), in Sussex, and in Lumpa (near Waterloo).

I love that although every part of everyone's book is uniquely theirs—from the photo to the dedication, the table of contents, the text, and the about-the-author page—the whole club already knows and has played a role in everyone else's stories.

Everyone wrote about their personal experiences, and brought their first drafts to the group for oral feedback to help them revise what they had written. They returned to their friends later for peer editing. For this reason, the students in these photos are aware that their accomplishments are not totally individual: they achieved what they did with the help of their fellow students as much as that of their facilitators. While such cooperation to achieve a task is common here in Sierra Leone, it is rare in formal school settings. Instruction in Sierra Leone is generally still very competitive.

This year, we gave out thirty-three "My Life" booklets, which is a record for SELI Young Writers clubs.

The facilitators shared the photos you see here on our WhatsApp forum, but those of our facilitators who do not have smart phones cannot access WhatsApp. The schools whose clubs received "My Life" booklets were Dankawalie Secondary School (Falaba District), REC Bassa Town, Abundant Grace Int'l. School (Sussex), New Apostolic/Wenner Kuhhnle (5:5), Heaven Homes (Joe Town) and the Seventh Day Adventist Primary school (Samuel Town). All but the first are in the Western Rural Area.

Congratulations to everyone involved!

"My Life" books

Each year the SRWP prints up personal booklets containing all the experiences written by Young Writers who have completed final drafts on at least five topics. We call these books, My Life. The students prepare dedications and "About the Author" paragraphs for their books.

We congratulate these students who qualified to receive My Life books for the 2016-2017 school year:

Dankawalie Secondary School, Dankawalie: Amara Ferenka Marah, Foday P. Kamara, Karifa M. Kamara

UMC Heritage High School, Kabala: Ibrahim Marah, Fatu B. Bah

Abundant Grace Int'l. School, Sussex: Vallentina Johnson, Isha Kanu

New Apostolic JSS / Winner Kuhhnle Primary (combined club), Lumpa: Hamza D. Cole, Santigie S. Sesay

Heaven Homes, Joe Town: Kadijatu Karim, Zainab Faramah, Gadsonna Cole, Mariatu Sesay, Mohamed Kamara, Marion Cole and Alie A. Kamara.

We wish all sixteen of them many productive years as Sierra Leonean authors!