19 October 2022
Joyce and Don Boykin first came to the Solomon Islands in 1993.
Don was an architect and Joyce a teacher.
The Boykins are from the Baha’i Faith and came here to serve in that community.
“We are leaving because of the pull of family and the desire to know our grandchildren,” Joyce added.
Joyce taught at KGVI, Woodford and USP.
She worked for the Ministry of Education and then decided to create her own NGO focusing on literacy.
With READ SI (Resources for Education to Advance Development in the Solomon Islands) she taught youths to set up literacy schools in villages and provided books for a small library.
After two years, 274 villages across the country had people teaching basic literacy and reading books up to third grade level.
Let me share with readers more information on the READ initiative as relayed by the Island Sun news paper a few years ago.
Quote.
"READ SI had impacted 170 villages last year through providing literacy classes to villagers and training of local teachers.
This was done through phase one and phase two of the programme.
In phase one, READ SI which stands for “Resources for Education to Advance Development in Solomon Islands” taught 34 villages on how to read books, phonics and simple english for six weeks.
In phase two, READ SI trained teachers in 136 villages from October to November last year so they can be equipped to carry on the work on teaching other villagers.
However, READ SI had not recorded nine villages in Temotu because their officers are still out there.
In phase one, READ SI covered villages in Central, Choiseul, Guadalcanal, Isabel, Malaita, Renbel and Western provinces.
In phase two, READ SI trained teachers in Central, Guadalcanal, Isabel, Makira, Malaita, Temotu, and Western provinces.
Joyce Boykin, founder of READ SI, said it was a success story because people learnt to read up to three readings in three months.
She said they had learnt about phonics and simple English and really loved books.
However, Ms Boykin said the only challenges faced by her team were transportation and communication problems.
“We travelled on boats to reach the villages and it was very expensive.
“Some clusters of villages are out of reach with mobile communication. For example some parts of central Guadalcanal,” she said.
Furthermore, she said they had experienced flooding which prevented them from visiting some villages.
In addition, Ms Boykin said there were too many reading classes but they ran out of materials to teach them.
Next month, she said her team will visit 50 of the 170 villages to do an evaluation through interviews and storytelling.
READ SI aims to reach 300 villages by end of this year.
Ms Boykin started the organisation in 2015 and has since depended largely on funding by local businesses.
Since its inception, the organisation trained teachers and dispatched them to villages around the country.
Last July, READ SI won the heart of former Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, who gave them SB$2 million assistance under a partnership programme between the Solomon Islands Government and Taiwan.
READ SI targeted 600 of the 6000 villages across the country to address illiteracy.
End of Quote.
Comment
Joyce’s READ programme was timely and successful and I offer my thanks to her for the child literacy programmme she was instrumental in introducing with financial help from the Prime Minister and funding from a then diplomatic partner of the Solomon Islands.
Joyce and Don I also salute for their public service work in the Solomon Islands and the pair are wished a safe passage back to the USA and a happy retirement with their grandchildren.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
