Seeing reading as a key ingredient in life, APO Group’s (www.APO-opa.com) Senior Account Manager Sandra Buyole is making her mark in the world of literacy with her recent book review and interview in Kenya’s Business Daily Newspaper (https://bit.ly/3Ctf92V).

Thirty-two-year-old Buyole of Nairobi, Kenya recited her love for books and the impact that reading has had on her since she first started flipping through the pages of the teen novels, Sweet Valley High series since the age of 11.

Motivated and urged by her now retired school teacher mum, who always encouraged her to read and explore the world through books, Buyole said that books gave her perspective in life, humanity, and awareness of her environment. This was imparted to her more significantly as a young teenager when she stumbled upon Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story.

The novel is the inspiring story of an inner-city kid with poor grades and little motivation, who, at age thirty-three, became director of paediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. In his book Dr Carson also describes the key role that his highly intelligent though relatively uneducated mother played in his metamorphosis from an unmotivated ghetto youngster into one of the most respected neurosurgeons in the world.

“Gifted Hands changed my perspective completely. It gave me a 360 view of everything, the world I was in as a teenager and the role of my parents played, especially my mum. I never understood my mum as a woman and that she sacrificed a lot to afford me the privileges that I had. For Dr Carson, the one thing that catapulted him to become the recognised surgeon that he is, was by virtue of reading and having a strict uneducated mother who insisted that education would be her gift to Dr Carson and his brother. Reading in fact emancipated them from poverty and that really touched me a lot.”

Keen to impart the same love of books to her now three-year old daughter, Buyole added that her reading schedule also included Kiswahili texts with the vision of one day starting a Kiswahili library for children.

 “These days many Kenyans are opting to speak and read in English and consider it to be a more significant language compared to Kiswahili which is also our national language. I find the language a unifying factor that symbolises our identity and culture as Kenyans. A lot can be done to emphasise Kiswahili as much as we do English, and I would open a library purely for that in a bid to preserve the beautiful language.”

With her profession exposing her to more reading and research Buyole said that it blended in well with her career as she subscribes to a number of magazines and newspapers.

As for her passion for the written word, Buyole added that she was keen to restart her blog and soon publish a poetry book to capture her life experiences.

“I used to do a lot of poetry and poem writing when I was younger and I would like to reignite that love for prose in a book that looks at life, love, mistakes, growth and being a woman. I have a passion for poetry, and I think I owe the world such a book. In the pipeline as well is my intention to restart my blog dedicated to the sights, sounds and cultures of Africa. I have a deep love for the continent, and I want to showcase her beauty in all that she has to offer.”

APO Group Founder and Chairman Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard said:” Over 50 million people in eastern and central Africa speak Kiswahili, and it is widely used in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It is considered as the most important and widely studied indigenous language of Africa. APO Group proudly supports Sandra in her ventures and endeavours and commends her for her commitment to promote and maintain African languages within the younger generation. In Africa, languages form a pivotal role in people’s lives as they are inclusive and uphold different cultures and identities.” 

Commenting on Buyole, APO Group Vice President Digital, PR and Media Relations, Lynne Krawchuk said: “Sandra, and her love for the written word, is an inspiration to many African women across the Continent. Reading is knowledge and forms part of a bigger and better understanding of Africa and the world. I am so proud that Sandra has followed and continues to follow her passion.”