By Farayi Mungoshi

IN 1965, on November 17, Ministers of Education from governments across the world congregated in the Islamic Republic of Iran with the intention of finding a means to eradicate illiteracy among individuals, communities and societies.
Rhodesia sent a representative to this event.
On that day, almost 51 years ago, UNESCO officially proclaimed September 8 International Literacy Day (ILD) in a bid to ‘actively mobilise the international community and to promote literacy as an instrument to empower individuals, communities and societies’.
This year, UNESCO, under the theme ‘Reading the Past, Writing the Future’, celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the ILD.
As has been in years past, this also included the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes Awards ceremony.
The UNESCO international director-general, Irina Bokova, said concerning the theme: “The world has changed since 1966 – but our determination to provide every woman and man with the skills, capacities and opportunities to become everything they wish, in dignity and respect, remains as firm as ever. Literacy is a foundation to build a more sustainable future for all.”
To commemorate and celebrate this day in Zimbabwe, the Mount Pleasant Town Library held a reading at the Four Ways Mount Pleasant Retirement Home in which author and story-teller Ignatius Mabasa told a story and I also got to read a story entitled ‘Dot.com’ from my latest book, Behind the Wall Everywhere.
Today, the Rotaract Club Harare Central will celebrate ILD with tales from renowned motivational speakers.
However, while we seem like we are doing something about celebrating ILD, the truth is we all seem to be blanketed in this cloud of economic injustice which is blinding us from seeing the bigger picture as everybody seems to be up and about looking for a dollar to feed their families and forgetting such important programmes that can reshape and redirect an almost malfunctioning mindset biased towards the culture of reading.
Tariro Dube, the librarian at the Harare Main City Library, on September 7 2016, did not mince his words during our conversation when he blamed authors for the lack of traffic in as far as literature and outreaches are concerned to redirect our Nation towards reclaiming its culture of reading.
Using ILD celebrations as an example, he challenged me by asking if I knew somebody who was actually doing something to acknowledge this initiative this day (September 8).
I found myself unable to answer him, simply because I did not know if any of us Zimbabweans were doing something to celebrate the 50 years of literacy empowerment in our country.
Despite being aware of ILD on the calender, it had descended upon me unawares, even on various writers’ association groups.
True, most of us have been distracted by the search for that elusive American dollar to the extent we are failing to see where we are hurting our children and the future that shall be Zimbabwe.
We are missing it in as far as winning this war against illiteracy is concerned.
“We don’t even have Zimbabwean Literature in our libraries,” said Takwana Masunda, who also works at the Harare City Library.
“We have got the Chinua Achebes and Ngugi Wa Thiongos, but the Mordecai Hamutyineis and Patrick Chakaipas are missing.
“We even have a Doris Lessing collection here, but we don’t have a Charles Mungoshi collection or Aaron Chiunduramoyo.
“Can we then honestly say this is a Zimbabwean library?
“We are stuck celebrating works by others like Roald Dahl, whom we are celebrating next week for reaching 100 years of writing.”
Masunda encouraged authors to write in Shona, saying people still love reading Shona works, but there is hardly any material coming out.
Even what was written long ago, he said, is missing from the shelves.
I would later visit Greendale and Mount Pleasant Libraries to verify the claims and true, Zimbabwean literature is missing from the shelves, save for a handful of African literature books.
Most literature there is European and the books are old.
It is clear they were inherited from the previous government – your William Shakespeares and Charles Dickens.
What then are we teaching our children if we do not even buy books by our own writers for them to read in libraries?
Greendale librarian Chiedza Rugare Mateko echoed the same sentiments, adding that the biggest book donations they get are mostly European literature from white people.
Whites have continued supporting libraries away from the public eye, with some even donating few local content by Zimbabweans despite our cultural and political differences and for that, they should be commended as they have not lost sight on the importance of reading.
A story has the ability of changing one’s life for the better and has the power to shape one’s future positively.
It is in stories we jot down truths about who we are as a people.
Tomorrow’s history is today’s events hence the need for us to write our own story lest somebody from another country comes along and brushes us off like they tried with the Great Zimbabwe and its origins.
While our libraries are facing difficulties and financial constraints, it is important we as Zimbabwean writers, publishers and librarians come together to protect and uphold our heritage hidden in our books for the sake of our children’s future lest we leave them at the mercy of other peoples’ cultures.