Africa Has a Literacy Crisis. America Has an Economic Stake in Solving It.

In Part 2 of my  @schoolutionspodcast conversation, Dr. Kris Nystrom (founder of Reading the World Inc.) connects the dots among global literacy rates, the world economy, and why what happens in a slum school in Nairobi has a profound economic impact. This discussion highlights the critical role of universal education in addressing poverty and fostering global awareness, underscoring the broader implications for finance and world news.

Kris shares:
🌍 Why student success in Kenya is directly tied to the global economy
📖 Project Ripple: a science of reading initiative in Nairobi slum schools with 100:1 student-teacher ratios
💡 The Good Hope Royalty Center, where "all children are royal" and street kids are given unconditional love and a future
🔁 The Sankofa philosophy: "You can go back and fix your mistakes"
👨‍👩‍👧 How one literate child creates a ripple of empowered educators, healthier families, and stronger communities

💫Make sure to watch Part 1 & donate here if you can.

📚 CHAPTERS:
00:00 Welcome & Sankofa: "You can go back and fix your mistakes"
02:00 Colonial history & why African literacy rates are low
04:30 Inside Nairobi slum schools: 100 students to 1 teacher
07:30 Project Ripple: science of reading training in APBET schools
09:00 Why global literacy matters to every economy
10:30 By 2050, 1/4 of the world will live in Africa
12:00 The ripple effect: one child teaches their parents to read
13:30 Good Hope Royalty Center & Faith Woge's unconditional love
16:30 "All children are royal" candles, soap & sustainable futures
17:30 How to support Reading the World Inc.
18:00 Closing reflection: the ripple is the whole thing

🔗 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• Why Should I Care? Counting Up From Survival
• Reading the World Projects
• APBET schools (Alternative Provision for Basic Education and Training)
• SUNY New Paltz Science of Reading Center 

🎧 New episodes every Monday & Friday with bite-sized Wednesday reel bonus content.
📧 Connect with me if you’d like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl

Don't forget to 🔔SUBSCRIBE for more teaching tips, and 💬SHARE with fellow educators!

Next Week: We are going somewhere equally unexpected and equally beautiful. Portrait Pals, founded by Tonya Quinn, is redefining what art class can be — pairing children across communities to paint each other's portraits, and in doing so, teaching them that every face tells a story worth seeing. 

When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.

Transcript

Olivia: [00:00:00] Welcome to part two of my conversation with Dr. Kris Nystrom. If you have not listened to part one, pause this episode, listen and then join us for this conversation. One literate child, one family transformed one community strengthened. In part two, Dr. Kris Nystrom connects the dots between global literacy rates, the world economy, and why what happens in a slum school in Nairobi matters deeply to all of us wherever we live.

This is Schoolutions, the podcast that extends education beyond the classroom. A show that isn't just theory, but practical try-it-tomorrow approaches for educators and caregivers to ensure every student finds their spark and receives the support they need to thrive. 

Welcome back to part [00:01:00] two of my conversation with Dr. Kris Nystrom. Kris illuminated for us his nonprofit Reading the World and the founding story of how it came to be. Part two, we're going to talk more about his why and also the ripple effects that Global Literacy has on the rest of the world. Kris, welcome back. You shared a particular term with me that I think is fascinating and I'd love to start off part two of our conversation. Paint a picture for us. You mentioned a goose, an egg on its back. What is this term that drives your work? 

Kris: Okay, so there's there and Adinkra symbols and they're, uh, symbols, uh, from, uh, far long ago in western Africa. I learned about these especially, and they're, they're relatively popular around the US as well. I see, I see references to them many times. But I learned about them, uh, over [00:02:00] year of years ago when I was in Accra, Ghana, and I was visiting the, uh, home of WEB Du Bois, and there was a symbol that he particularly liked called Sankofa. Sankofa means, uh, it's a, it's a goose with an egg on its back and the Sankofa is looking back and it essentially means, uh, uh, you, if you look back, you learn from it and you can move forward, that kind of a thing.

But when I was with the guide, uh, she told me something that I thought was fascinating and I liked this a lot. She said, you can go back and fix your mistakes. And I think about that a lot. I think about the personal mission that I am on doing this work. I think about throughout my career, the many children who were bypassed, overlooked by their identity alone.

And [00:03:00] then I think about when I look at global literacy rates, why is Africa so low? Well, you look at the African history, most African nations are 60, 70 years old because they have been under Colonial Rule. So they're very brand New Nations for 400-500-600 years. The Western world has been pulling human, natural resources out of Africa. We are still doing it. Most of the astrological, mathematical, philosophical, religious foundations that we think of as coming from ancient Greece, all starting in Africa. 

Olivia: Yes. 

Kris: We just don't allow that history to come forward. Can I fix that? No, but maybe it's time I just feel like [00:04:00] maybe it's time we do something to give a little bit back and to try to bridge the gap that colonialism has caused. The oppression colonialism has, uh, has forced a downturn of education, I didn’t say that very well, but the, the oppression that these folks have been under and they're just learning how to dig themselves out. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Kris: We can help. 

Olivia: So I think it's important for listeners to better understand the project-based work that you're doing, and you have a couple of current projects, would you share about those? 

Kris: Sure. I, I'm very happy to. So I'll start with the one that is, uh, closest to me since I am in Nairobi now. Uh, Nairobi is, has, uh, a few different, they call them slums. Uh, a few different slums as part of the city. Uh, they're jam packed with people. They have their own economy, they have their own way of living. It is a very different, uh, [00:05:00] and it is. It is a, uh, an area of severe poverty. So, uh, one of those that I was working in, for example, today, uh, is called Kangemi. There is a, there is one public school and it has, they told me today about 6,000 students.

Olivia: My God. 

Kris: The student teacher ratio, there is about a hundred to one and one of the other places I work, uh, in Kibera Africa's largest. Uh, uh, they have 110 to 1. So imagine being a first grade student in that classroom. Not much happening, right? Uh, so what communities have done is, families have done is they want their kids to go to school. So it's gonna be an hour for the kid to walk to the school through a labyrinth of alleyways, rats, sewage, raw [00:06:00] sewage is just coming by. Um, they know it's not safe. 

Olivia: Mm-hmm. 

Kris: Uh, and, and, and it's, and it's uncomfortable for them. So they have decided to set up their own schools. These are schools called Alternative Provision for Basic Education and Training Schools (APBET). There are hundreds of these schools because communities want the best for their kids and. They're not going to either, they cannot ever get to the school because it's too far or it's too dangerous. Or even if they get there, it's, it's, the quality is, is is pretty poor. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Kris: So these schools are, they were at one point, uh, acknowledged by the education ministry. They are not now. But they - officially, but they are acknowledged in terms of they are fulfilling a very important role of providing these kids in education. Many of the teachers are not trained. Many of the [00:07:00] teachers have had a secondary education at most. Uh, some of the teachers are voluntary, uh, are there as volunteers.

Their parents, uh, they have, they have very little funding. They do the best they can with what they've got. So I have partnered with, uh, SUNY New Paltz Science of Reading Center to, uh, to provide these teachers, teachers in two schools - one of them I was at today, uh, a community APBET school, uh, with, uh, training and how to teach reading what are the best ways to teach reading. We want to improve their, their capacity and by improving the teachers, investing in the teachers. The kids are going to benefit. So that's, that's one of the projects that we're working on now. That's 

Olivia: That’s incredible. 

Kris: Well, I'm gonna give you a bigger picture on that, if it's okay. 

Olivia: Please. Yeah…

Kris: I can just talk forever.

Olivia: No, this is fascinating. It's, it's, it's [00:08:00] actually, it's so hopeful, Kris, so that I, I appreciate it. Yeah. 

Kris: I call this project, Project Ripple because I'm working with two schools. And there are hundreds of these and there are thousands of kids in these schools. I'm working with two. But if we can improve the reading capacity of kids in these two schools, 200, 250 in each school, you know, 500, 400, 500 kids, other schools, other professionals, educators, ministry of Education, start to look and say, what's going on there? What are you doing? We are not only training these teachers, but we've identified a couple from within each school who are, we are training additionally to become trainers and they are going to go to other APBET bet schools and train them in the best practices of teaching, reading, science, of reading. But you know, it's really just what are the [00:09:00] best practices we can get out there.

So we're, we look at this and we know we're throwing a very small pebble into a very large ocean. But that ripple can be powerful. So that's what we're shooting for. That's the aim. These, these schools often have turnover as well. You know, they're volunteer or very low paid. Some of them become fully, uh, certified teachers and then go work where they get full salary as a teacher.

Olivia: Right, right. 

Kris: So we need the trainers there who can sustain this. 

Olivia: Yes. So then I think, you know, if someone's listening and they say, well, I'm in America or I'm in another country, why should this matter to me? Can you illuminate that for us? 

Kris: Yeah. I don't have the actual number in front of me, but, uh, we lose out on 1.5, 1.3 $1.5 trillion in, [00:10:00] uh, economic benefits because of illiteracy across the world, uh, Africa is also undergoing an incredible spurt of growth. 

Olivia: Yes. 

Kris: Within 50 years, the size of Africa, the, the population population of Africa will double. By 2050, One quarter of the world will be living in Africa. There are also going to be climate issues that are going to beset Africa. We have economic benefits and then we have climate that can cause vast population shifts.

Olivia: Mm-hmm. 

Kris: Migrations. And we can either, either just hope that that doesn't happen or we can invest in it and we can help them be able to manage and deal with those kinds of, [00:11:00] uh, with uh, uh, catastrophe. With climate change on their own, right. They have the, certainly have the capacity. Now let's help them, let's help them do that. They just don't have the access to education so that they can get there. 

Olivia: Right. 

Kris: And make some of those changes. Right. So imagine the economy when we have a quarter of the world living in Africa and they are educated and they are going to then be contributing to the global economy. That's huge. 

Olivia: It's a game changer. It is. 

Kris: Yeah, 

Olivia: It is. Yeah. Okay. I am thinking a lot too about, um, the, there's something I read on your site, which is beautiful by the way, and I'll make sure to tuck links in the show notes. But that idea of the impact one literate child can have on the trajectory of their entire family. [00:12:00] So let's go back to that idea of ripple effect. Can you speak to that for listeners? 

Kris: Yes. Uh, uh, in some of the schools that I've, I'm working with, uh, they talk about teaching the children to read and the children, these are children who did not have access to school. And a lot of the reason, well, uh, you know, just the natural course of things. Their families had not been to school. Their parents have not been to school. They've never been to school. If they have, maybe they went to, you know, up to first or second grade, but then quick, were not able to continue. So these kids are learning to read and then you send them home with a book and they read with their family. They read with their parents and the parents start to learn how to read. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Kris: The children are teaching the parents. And I've heard stories. I was not there of a parent coming to one of the head teachers in a school, a parent coming in and weeping and, and telling them [00:13:00] what a, what a benefit it was to have their kid come home and help them learn how to read.

But here's the thing, that child who learns how to read becomes a value to their family in another way. That child then becomes an economic source for the family. Because they can, they're, we know they're gonna be healthier. They're gonna get a better, uh, have better work and, and better pay, and they can bring that back to their family, right?

So now the family is better, but that doesn't, it doesn't stop there because that family is healthier and better off the community gets healthier and better off. Each of those children is now participating in their community in a positive way that they maybe were, would not have been able, well, they certainly would not have been able to. Let me throw in another project that I just started this week.

Olivia: Yes, 

Kris: There's an organization in one of the other, uh, [00:14:00] tightly packed, forgotten places here. Otherwise they call us law. Uh, called, uh, Kangemi and the organization is called Good Hope Royalty Center. And it is, it was started by, uh, a, a fantastic, an incredible woman named Faith Moge, who's a social worker.

And she started with a small library helping kids, uh, with a safe place after school to study and read. But she also noticed a number of street kids. Street kids who were joining gangs and gangs who were engaging in petty thief, petty thievery. And so she started working with them and bringing them in and providing mentorship and training them with things like agriculture and life skills. You know, things and, uh, jobs, potential things, uh, and the importance of reading and schooling. 

A [00:15:00] number of the kids in the gangs were being killed. So those who were left over started to say, is this really the path I want or is there a better one? And Faith Moge - Mama Faith, we call her, was offering a better one. Yeah. Uh, and so they started turning to her real tough love, but unconditional love. It doesn't matter what you have ever done, what you have ever said, doesn't matter what you ever do, you are human. And I see you and I hear you, and you are valuable and we are going to be here for you. Right? 

So she had this library, uh, they had a flood a year ago. The entire library is wiped out. So a, I am going to work with them. Uh, we've identified a place. A couple of rooms. One is going to be a new library, which I will fill and I will train a [00:16:00] librarian in how to provide reading instruction to the kids and to adults who want to come in and learn. 

And then the other, the other space is, uh, this is the sustainable part - they want to do something so that they can go to school. 'cause right now they can't, many of them can't. Or they, uh, maybe they can go to school and they can't get there. So they're going to make soap and they're going to make candles as a start. And we have a gentleman who has donated the spaces and has already built the, uh, oven stove for creating, for making soap, and they are so excited about getting getting started. There are about 50 kids in Good Hope Royalty Center. She calls it royalty because. All children are royal. 

Olivia: Gosh, Kris! Oh my gosh, it's so… 

Kris: I'm so excited to be working with this project. 

Olivia: Yeah, [00:17:00] yeah. So now you know we're gonna wrap part two and, but before we do, I'm sure I know I want to support you in any way I possibly can. Um, and I'm sure listeners will want to support your mission and vision as well. What is the best way for us to get in touch, um, outside of your website or is that the best way? 

Kris: Yeah, no question. The website is the best way. 

Olivia: Okay. 

Kris: Uh, a lot of my, uh, target population, donor population is a little bit more of the, um, Facebook generation. So I, uh, do have a little bit of a presence on Facebook and I do try - I'm a boomer, but I try to use Instagram. But otherwise, the best place is through my website. 

Olivia: Okay. 

Kris: I do have an email there. Contact me, uh, and there are avenues for making donations. 

Olivia: Awesome, awesome. 

Kris: Yeah. 

Olivia: Kris? Um. You are a gift [00:18:00] to the world. And I think what we need now more than ever is to have purpose. And I think that purpose is what helps us keep putting one foot in front of the other when we feel like hope may be waning. And just hearing of the, the idea of the ripple effect. That's what I'm leaving our conversation with, that it doesn't have to be these grand gestures. It's one child at a time. It's one family at a time, and then you gave that beautiful picture of the community and it just continuing to grow. 

I also think that it's critical for us to understand you are empowering children to own their journey, and that is something that can never be taken away from them. So, um, thank you for the gift of this conversation and letting me capture it. 

Kris: Thank you. Uh, it was an honor to, [00:19:00] to speak with you and, uh, thank you so much for spreading this. Part of my mission is to, uh, spread the information about global literacy rates and why it's valuable and important. So thank you. 

Olivia: Yeah, absolutely. I will make sure to tuck all the research and mentions from our conversation into the show notes as well. Take care, Kris. 

Kris: Thank you. 

Olivia: Yeah. After talking with Kris, I have this image that I cannot shake. I see a child coming home with a book, sitting down with a parent who has never learned to read and together, truly turning a page.

That is the ripple. That's the whole thing. And this conversation truly reminds us that the distance between a child and an education is sometimes measured in kilometers walked through wildlife, and sometimes just in dollars for a uniform and a school lunch. If you want [00:20:00] to be part of it, like I want to be part of this, head to readingtheworldinc.com.

I'll again put all the links in the show notes. Every dollar donated goes directly to children. Make sure to share this episode with an educator or a parent, or anyone who believes that where a child is born should not determine what they get to become.

Next week, we are going somewhere equally unexpected and equally beautiful. Portrait Pals founded by Tonya Quinn is redefining what art class can be. She pairs children across communities and elders to paint others' portraits. And in doing so, she teaches them that every face tells a story worth seeing. Tonya will leave you believing that a canvas and a little kindness can quite literally change how a child sees the world. You will not want to miss it. 

Schoolutions podcast is created, [00:21:00] produced, and edited by me, Olivia Wahl. Thank you to my older son Benjamin, who created the music playing in the background. You can follow and listen to Schoolutions wherever you get your podcasts or subscribe to never miss an episode and watch on YouTube.

Thank you to my guest, Kris Nystrom, for showing us why doing the quiet, rigorous community rooted work of closing the distance between a child and education matters. Reach out to me @oliviawahl.com if you'd like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.

Don't forget to tune in every Monday and Friday for part one and part two of my guest conversations with the best evidence-based, classroom ready strategies that you can apply right away to better the lives of the children in your care. Your 60-second bite-sized piece of learning from our conversation will be waiting for you on Wednesdays to share with a colleague. Take [00:22:00] care and thank you for forever getting better with me. See you next week.