Okanta Kate, a 17 year old Ghanaian girl who was lucky enough to be included in the work of Worldreader in Ghana (In which they have provided hundreds of Ghanaian kids in small rural Ghanaian schools with Kindle ereaders and thousands of ebooks to read with them, both in school and out of school) has discovered what she wants to do with her life as a result of reading an ebook written by a female Ghanaian writer.
Since getting her Kindle, she has read more than 100 ebooks on the thing, which in itself is a wonderful thing, but it was her discovery of a book by Ghanaian woman writer, Peggy Oppong called The Shark (link to this below) that really set her on fire.
She describes her feelings and motivations in the video below much better than I can, so I shall leave that side of it to her, just watch the video and be happy for her.
See what I mean?
The poem she starts to read in that video is called “The Agony of a Woman”, and whilst it shows all the normal signs of teenage angst (why do teenagers the world over tend to write such depressing poems I wonder?), it is also a powerful bit of writing I found, moving and to the point..
If she manages to realise this dream of hers, Ghana will have another seriously good writer on its hands.
Here in full is that poem for your reading pleasure:
“The Agony of a Woman” by Okanta Kate;
I am the subject everyone talks about.
I am the laughing-stock everywhere I go.
I am despised by men.
Women gossip about me.
Children mock me.
Barren Woman they call me.
They call me a witch.
They say I ate my children.
The say my womb is blocked.
Barren Woman they call me.
I live alone in a deserted place.
I walk alone with no friends or family
I sleep alone with no man at my side.
Barren Woman they call me.
Update:
Since Worldreader (and others) publicized her work, at least one publisher has offered to publish Okanta Kate’s poems and short stories. I will keep you posted on how that works out.
Opening doors:
It is precisely this exposure to African writing that is one of the most wonderful things about the work of Worldreader, in that it is showing these young Africans that their countries are capable of producing world class writers, and giving them the opportunity to be numbered in the ranks of these future writers.
Please bear in mind that until Worldreader started this project, most of these kids attended schools that had perhaps a total of 5 or 6 books….. And now they are reading like there is no tomorrow, insatiable reading.
Donate:
Which is why you should go and click on that large blue button on the right of this screen and contribute your $5 to help this work to achieve their aim of 1 000 000 ebooks for these African kids.
Note to Before its News readers:
Come to my blog and read some of the many posts on the work of Worldreader I have there. A good bunch of people doing good in a sensible and realistic manner in Africa.
Link to Worldreader: http://www.worldreader.org/
Link to the ebook that started it for her: http://www.amazon.com/The-Shark-ebook/
Share with us:
Are you aware of the work of Worldreader? If not, I have several dozen posts here on this blog about their work, and of course you can also visit their website. It is an intriguing project and appears to be working,
