The Storymoja Read Aloud 2022 campaign to break the world record for the largest number of people reading one text at the same time kicked off on Tuesday, March 22, 2022.
Storymoja Publishers built their name in the Kenyan and African literary community for their world-famous Storymoja Festival. In 2014, they started a new initiative called the Storymoja Read Aloud campaign. The idea was to get kids from as many schools around Kenya as possible to read from the same text at the same time. The selected text Attack of the Shidas by Muthoni Muchemi was read on June 16, the International Day of the African Child.
The event was so well received that it has become an annual event with the goal of breaking the world record for most people reading the text.
The 2022 edition of the campaign kicked off at an event at Farasi Lane Primary School, Nairobi on Tuesday. The campaign will feature reading ambassadors whose job is to go to different schools and help the children to read the assigned text. The assigned text is Shambulizi la Akina Shida which is the Kiswahili translation of the Muthoni Muchemi written Attack of the Shidas.
The launch event included a panel moderated by book blogger James Murua alongside the panellists Start A Library Executive Director Evelyne Mwandia, reading ambassadors George Chunga and Mercy Ikuri as well as Farasi Lane Primary School Head Teacher Patrick Ounza. That panel discussed the importance of the campaign to the school children, the excitement of the text which worked very well in an election year and it being in Kiswahili, and how to take part. You can watch the panel by clicking here.
There as several ways you can join in the campaign if you wish to take part including as a reading ambassador, participating school, sponsor, and other options. For those who wish to take part in the campaign, you can click here for more information.
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