Growing up in rural Africa creates a unique set of childhood experiences that children share in the stories they write about their lives, stories that always touch the hearts of readers especially when telling about how Reach the Children impacts their communities. Reach the Children UK decided to take up the challenge of collecting these stories and sharing them is a token of thanks to you, our generous supporters.
Tony Jordan, a Trustee of Reach the Children, is a multi-award-winning British television writer who has run and created some of the most iconic shows on British television. He is a master story creator and is very highly regarded in the industry. His TV production company, Red Planet Pictures, sponsors the competition and provides some great input on the structure of the story writing.
I Told My Story has been introduced in 18 schools, providing training on story writing, and donating mosquito nets to 700 students and 155 teachers.
The objective of the story writing competition was to improve the students’ reading, writing, and storytelling skills along with techniques as the culture of reading is not especially promoted in schools, muting creativity and failing to fire up imaginative storytelling. The programme has had a positive impact on the lives of schoolchildren in rural impoverished areas of Uganda.
Reach the Children ran the pilot competition of I Told My Story in Makata, Namina and Mayangayanga Primary Schools in Uganda in 2019 and it was open to students in years P6 and P7, age 11-13 years. Head Teachers were confident the competition would be great for their students, helping them with their language skills, enabling them to pass their Primary leaving examinations with flying colours, particularly in English.
Here are two stories we have selected from our 2020 competition to share with you. Click the title to read the stories:
