MARY Cole was born in Munda, in the Western province but ended up spending most of her life in New Zealand after marrying a British gentleman.

While in New Zealand she was always active in charity work and joined Rotary to become even more involved in service to others.

It was in 2008 that Mary Cole and a Kiwi friend started collecting traditional short stories told and written by children from the Western province.

These stories were published and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Riccarton in New Zealand.

Mary passed away in 2015 after years of being ill and before she could return to her beloved Solomon Islands to launch the book.

The cartons of books have been in her sister’s house in Honiara for a couple of years.

Connie Bisili Grouse, Mary’s younger sister, was waiting for the right time and for the right way to launch the book and have it distributed across the nation.

A few weeks ago Connie saw an old friend, Joyce Boykin, and they decided to have READ SI take the books out to the villages that literacy trainers visit.

These books would become part of the library kit that villages were given with the READ SI programme.

So Connie and her brother, Max, kindly handed boxes of books to Joyce knowing that they would be given out to people throughout the Solomon Islands.

Custom stories are still passed down from generation to generation in the villages.

They are steeped and entwined in traditional lore, founded on spiritualism and a close and intimate relationship with ancestors and the environment.

Village life is still spiritually and materially closely connected to the land, forests and the sea and many stories, like daily life, are about the sea and the land the villagers know so intimately.

Though Solomon Islanders practice Christianity many stories are also about the dead and the ability of the dead to affect the life of the living.

Some of the stories that are told are about tall ships with white skinned men, explorers, whalers and traders who came to barter.

Sometimes they were about sailors who used to entice men into their ships and take them to be slaves to work in sugar cane plantations in Fiji and Queensland.

Stories are told in the evenings, after everyone has washed and eaten and the heat of the day has cooled, when small groups gather on a convenient verandah or on a log by the sea to talk and discuss the day’s events.

Custom stories bring people together and create a rich sense of unity and harmony.

The stories in the book, “Custom Stories from the Solomon Islands” are a gift from Mary Bisili Cole to the people of the Solomons.

–READ SI

By Ellison.T.Vahi

THE SolRice READ SI programme tutors in the country will host a two-week workshop.

Since 2015 SolRice has contributed to READ SI to get reading classes and books into the villages across the nation as the education sector development needs changed.

Using materials produced by READ SI and funded by businesses and SIG, SolRice are aiming in helping to improve the educational outcomes in the Solomon Islands in roles such as mentoring and supporting literacy schools.

Now, with their generous support of 67 bales of rice, trainings in 14 locations in five provinces will take place with the 168 participants learning phonics, usage of flash cards, games for sentence building and types of writing with filled stomachs.

These workshops are for two weeks with READ SI tutors using materials produced by READ SI and funded by businesses and SIG (Solomon Island Government).

READ SI is looking at different ways to reach people across the nation and will be using existing networks as everyone is ought to be a literacy champion by supporting literacy schools in neighbourhoods, in churches, in villages and with children coming home from school.

The focus is on improving education as it is the key to success and continued advancement for the Solomon Islands.

There is also a prison programme that may be starting very soon, plus the Honiara campaign which offers reading classes in people’s homes.

This whole process is a partnership between READ SI and each village that is part of the programme. It is the vision of the National Literacy Campaign to reach 600 villages.

READ SI is blessed with the funding needed to reach many different people in the provinces, villages, homes, prisons and churches.

By ELLISON.T.VAHI

THE 2017-2018 secondary school poster and essay competition on women’s leadership and political participation successfully ends with a prize-giving ceremony yesterday afternoon at an award ceremony held at the Art Gallery.

After taking the top places in the women’s leadership and political participation general essay and poster competition 27 students and teachers from various schools throughout the country received prizes ranging from laptops to school stationeries and t-shirts.

The competition was created to engage students and their teachers to reflect and share their views on issues in connection with gender equality in the schools, their recommendations to promote gender awareness and their views on temporary special measures.

It aimed to raise awareness on the problem, and anti-corruption measures and initiatives being undertaken.

In his keynote address at the award ceremony, Mr George Palua, PS Home Affairs said the country’s young people are vital to the fight against corruption.

“It is my sincere hope that you will manifest the messages that you have conveyed on your posters and in your essays,” he said.

The competition has attracted increased participation of 170 posters and essay entries from 31 schools throughout the country, a dramatic increase compared from the 41 entries that competed in the 2016 competition.

The secondary school poster and essay competition were categorised under three categories; junior category was for forms one to three students, senior category for forms four to seven and teachers’ category, which is the divided into two components that is a poster competition for artists and an essay competition for writers both male and females.

Competing on the key elements to achieving gender equality in schools in Solomon Islands the junior category was to answer either through an artwork/poster or an essay while the senior category Identify barriers that make it difficult for women to be in parliament, provincial assemblies and other senior government offices as well suggest possible solutions to increase women’s leadership and political participation.

In the teachers’ category they were asked to discuss key factors to consider successfully implementing the Temporary Special Measures (TSM) or discussing if the school curriculum is promoting the importance of increasing women representation in parliament, provincial assemblies and in senior government offices.

The poster and essay entries were marked by various professionals from the media, SINU, MWYCA, MEHRD, SI artists association, CSO and some teachers.

There are numerous obstacles to women’s political participation and representation in all societies, including in the Solomon Islands.

History, institutional design, and cultural barriers such as deeply rooted traditional gender roles, all have roles in limiting the access of women to appointed and elected government positions. As an initiative to start addressing these barriers and facilitate engagement and discussion amongst the next generation of policy makers, youth and children, as well their teachers and parents, SIEC in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Human Resource and Development initiated and rolled out this initiative in 2016.

The Competitions (2016 and 2017-2018) have been supported by UNDP through the Strengthening the Electoral Cycle Project of Solomon Islands (SECSIP II). SECSIP II is implemented by UNDP in partnership with the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission (SIEC). It receives financial support from UNDP, the European Union and the Government of Australia.