The Story of An Uncle Who Wrote A Book for His Niece

When Dominic Onyekachi set out to read his 6-year-old niece a story, he did not anticipate that the simple task would lead him to create a digital collection of African stories. After going through her mini library, he found that many of her books were foreign and had very little African representation. Onyekachi told CNN that he wanted her to read books that reflect her culture, so he took it upon himself to write stories for her. “I wrote a few stories for her and I got my friend to illustrate. She liked it, her friends in school liked it too. And that’s when I really thought about writing more books and putting them in a place where many more children can access them,” he said. In May, with help from two friends, Fanan and Tolulope, Onyekachi launched Akiddie, a web-based platform providing access to African storybooks for children like his niece. Akiddie features storybooks based on African history and characters for children in different languages. The books have been translated to Yoruba language, spoken in West Africa, Hausa language, spoken in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Igbo language, spoken in southeastern Nigeria.

SOURCE: CNN