Youngsters of today think libraries are in the outerspace

The other day I received an extremely old paper cutting from an old friend of mine, Uncle Kitime, a veteran musician, teacher and writer.

The now greyish and worn out cutting which brought back some nostalgic memories from my teenage years in the late 60s and early 70s in Iringa was from the then popular magazine, The Spear.

To the younger generations, this was a pictorial magazine about some thrilling spy exploits of one Lance Spearman against his nemesis Zorro.

The magazine was published in then apartheid South Africa and reprinted in Nairobi, Kenya, presumably to capture the market in free Africa.

All episodes of this well suited and dashing spy, in the mode of James Bond, took place in Johannesburg and other areas in South Africa. Apart from the thrilling episodes, what attracted most of the secondary and high school teenage students was that Lance Spearman was black.

The old press cutting had an announcement welcoming and introducing new members to The Spear Fan Club. The new members totalling 53 were from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

I was one of the seven new members from Tanzania and my address was listed as, Lumumba East House, Mkwawa High School, Private Mail Bag, Iringa.

I hazily remember writing to request membership but I know for sure I never came around to know that I had been accepted.

But that is a story for another day.

What is important here is that as teenage students we used to crave reading almost all the magazines and publications which were brought into our school library and the public library in Iringa town.

These included The Spear, Ebony, Readers Digent and the comics like The Beezer, Topas and Tintin.

We developed a reading culture which in due course embraced all other publications and academic books.

Naturally the library became the centre for students’ social gatherings. Actually I do recall having met my first ‘I love you handkerchief tomorrow’ girlfriend inside the town library.

Most magazines and newspapers had a Readers’ or Membership Column. I believe it was under these circumstances that I applied for the Spear Fan Club membership.

We learnt to write under the guidance of the librarians and actually most of us ended up with pen pals from several African, European and American countries.

In a nutshell the libraries became our popular knowledge watering holes and played a major role in shaping our global views and knowledge.

No wonder that paper cutting took me back to those innocent knowledge seeking years.

Naturally I miss them. I also wish our childgoing children could embrace that same culture, perhaps in a modernised version. But what do I see? The young ones, through modern technology and its attendant YouTube, Instagram, Whatssap, Facebook and the like are lavishly embracing some heartbreaking trends, the likes of Nyegenyegezi, Konki Konki and many others.

Try mentioning the noble goals and importance of a Library to our youngsters, and they will think it is somewhere in Outerspace. What a shame!

The author is a veteran journalist and communication expert based in Arusha.