The Habit of Reading

One evening last year as I was walking home, I eavesdropped on two teenage girls who were in front of me. They were boasting about how they hadn't read a book since schools were closed several months before due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As I listened to their conversation, I thought to myself how foolish they were to disdain books.

The girls brought to memory a witticism I heard from someone in 2006 when I was an institute student at Starehe Boys' Centre: that some people are like wheelbarrows; they can never do anything unless pushed. Without being pushed to read, the teen girls couldn't do it themselves.

I later resolved that if I ever get lucky to have children and overhear them boasting about how they never read, I will give them a good spanking - the kind that the book of Proverbs exhorts parents to administer to errant children. But I want to believe I will succeed in instilling in my children the same love for reading that my father instilled in me.

My father did instill in me a love for reading. When I was growing up in the '90s, he bought us plenty of books, magazines and newspapers which he encouraged us to read. He even offered us private tuition at home, mostly in math and writing.

I vividly recall the day in 1994 when I picked a Swahili textbook to read; I was six years old at the time and in Standard One. And wow! I became delighted when I discovered that I could read the textbook.

After discovering that I could read, I don't think I ever stopped reading for the rest of my years in primary school, something that made me pass the 2001 KCPE exams and get into Starehe Boys' Centre, a prestigious institution in Nairobi where I had my high school and college education.

At Starehe, I became preoccupied with reading books, mostly to pass the exams that we frequently took at school. My motivation to read was increased when I was revising for the SAT exam in 2006 during my time in Starehe Institute.

Then when I was a first-year student at JKUAT in 2007, I was inspired to read even more by someone at the university who was promoting a reading culture among students by pinning posters that encouraged us to read. On one such poster was a picture of Barack Obama and a quote that said, "If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads."

Reading has now grown into a passion for me. These days, I don't read to pass exams; I read to be entertained, inspired or enlightened. The knowledge I have gained has enabled me to overcome my dark past. And I tend to believe it will also open doors for me.

Such is the love for reading that I will instill in my children if I ever have some. And I will do it by example, so I will have them see me curl up with a good book. Once they become readers, they will excel in school and go on to make a lasting difference in this sin-cursed world; this, I am sure.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on the habit of reading, you might also enjoy another one on "Books I'd Love to Read Again" which I wrote a few years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.