rana dajani
When Dr. Rana Dajani returned to Jordan after spending five years abroad, she saw her country with new eyes. During her time away, Rana had worked extensively with a public library and had grown fond of reading with her children. Her realization that not only were there few libraries in Jordan, but also that Jordanian children didn’t typically read for pleasure led her to the idea that she should work to change that. Phonetic Planet was delighted to hear what Rana did in order to promote a love of literacy in her home country. Read on and find out about her wonderful initiative!
Rana, where in the world did you grow up?
I grew up in the US then I moved to Jordan when I was 9. I am the eldest of eight sisters, and my only brother was born twenty years after me. I had no cousins and no close friends. We went to an all-girls school, and we visited friends and family in women-only settings. My entire world was run by women and my father, a successful physician, came home after work and played with us or enjoyed late-night conversations.
Every summer, I would take my sisters on an adventure. I took them camping, exploring, and on many other escapades. In 1986, Haley’s Comet passed by the earth on one of its periodic but infrequent visits to the inner solar system. I made all my sisters climb up to the roof to watch the comet pass, knowing that they may not have the chance to witness the spectacle again when it returned seventy-six years later. I took care of them as if they were my own children. We had no hired help. In fact, we volunteered to help others, especially members of the community who were refugees from war-torn Syria, often with no family or support network of their own.
What are some of your favorite memories from childhood?
I remember enjoying books and being lost in a book. In our home, my parents assembled a library that covered a long wall from floor to ceiling with books of all kinds in English and Arabic. I devoured every last one of these texts while still a young girl. I read everywhere- the school bus, the playground, the kitchen, the street. I loved to read so much that I would look frantically for texts, when they were lacking, from the backs of cereal boxes, to the instructions installed on our washing machine installed in the bathroom. And speaking of bathrooms, I read there, too! I would sneak a book with me into the bathroom and emerge an hour or two later. My mother and sisters used to call for me, and I would insist that I was constipated and needed more time, moaning for dramatic effect.
I read and read and read, from C.S. Lewis and Isaac Asimov, to Arthur Clark and Nancy Drew. When our family moved to Jordan, my father bought a subscription to the Reader’s Digest best-seller series. I read every book that came through the mail. The family also subscribed to the National Geographic and Scientific American magazines. I couldn’t understand most of them, but I still ploughed through every issue. National Geographic had a unique place in my heart. I imagined I traveled to all the far off places in the world. I wanted to climb Everest, dive deep into the ocean and travel into space. My love of traveling has never dwindled, even though I have traveled a lot in my life. I am still excited by the idea of getting on a plane and going somewhere. I never get bored. I have a whole list of things I want to do. Throughout these years, we never owned a television; my mother thought TV was a waste of time. With enough siblings for a movie-cast, we did a lot of role-playing among ourselves.
Do you remember one special place with particular fondness, Rana?
I remember staying up late after everyone had gone to sleep and cuddling up in an armchair, and reading until dawn.
How has the gift of literacy benefited you in your life so far?
The gift of loving to read has allowed me to discover the world within me and, also, the world around me.
Please tell us about the organization We Love Reading, and why you developed it.
Well, when I returned to Jordan, it gradually became clear to me that Jordanian children didn’t typically read for pleasure. They read for educational and religious purposes rather than for joy or entertainment. This lack of reading extended across the Arab world and many developing countries. When I reached adulthood, I drew on my expertise as a scientist to conduct research on why this was the case, and how I could aspire to change this aspect of society. Drawing on that research, I concluded that parents could foster a love of reading by regularly reading aloud to their children, starting at a young age. Children who read for pleasure exhibit stronger language skills, better academic performance and a greater emotional intelligence.
I came up with a goal; to establish a library in every neighborhood in Jordan, starting with my own. My husband spoke with the imam at the mosque and during the Friday prayer he announced that a reading session for children would be held there on the following morning. I brought a selection of books to that first reading session, as well as a number of costumes and puppets and when our meeting concluded I distributed the books among the children and instructed them to read or be read to every night until the next session. Overall, the sessions proved to be wildly successful! From these simple gatherings, the idea of We Love Reading transformed into a grassroots movement.
Since 2006, We Love Reading has expanded to over 60 countries around the world, founding 4400+ libraries in a diverse range of communities—rural and urban, as well as refugee camps. Our model remains focused on creating change at the local level by empowering people to be change makers in their own communities. A solution in one culture may not necessarily succeed in another. More importantly, it is essential that the people served also play a role in implementing these solutions, to amplify their voices and strengthen their ability to be change makers. Such attitudes and approaches can build a thriving community and a stable, more prosperous nation.
You can access a recent webinar featuring the theme of Science And Social Change and presented by Rana, free of charge, at the following link:
https://welovereading.org/science-and-social-change-webinar-with-dr-rana-dajani/
Meanwhile, the website for We Love Reading is full to the brim with interesting articles on literacy-based projects from around the world as well as tips for learning resources and children’s books in the Arabic language. Make sure to check out the special section focusing on partnerships with this wonderful initiative! Here is the link for the home page:
We are so very grateful to Dr. Rana for the gift of her time in helping us create this interview! As you can see, her dedication to her work is unwavering. We wish her and everyone at We Love Reading every success in their mission to bring the joy of reading to children all over the world!
You can also watch Rana’s TedX talk here:
All photos for the article were provided by Rana Dajani