Where Words Build Leaders: The Wordland Africa Movement Begins
Students in competition © Askanwi
By Fatoumata Jaiteh
On 24th May 2025, the Take M Transformative Organisation launched a groundbreaking initiative: The Wordland Africa Competition—a literacy-focused contest aimed at inspiring academic excellence among children across The Gambia.
According to organisers, this initiative has the potential to make waves not only across Africa but globally, by reimagining how children engage with language and literacy.
Targeting children aged 8 to 15 in lower basic schools, the competition is designed to strengthen their command of the English language—a vital tool for both academic success and personal development. Contestants wear numbered tags and, when called upon, select a card from a display table. Each card presents a “wordblock”, a creative linguistic challenge that requires participants to:
Construct a word from the wordblock,
Identify its part of speech,
Spell it correctly,
Define the word, and
Use it accurately in a sentence.
To advance, participants must correctly spell the word they construct. This demanding format goes beyond rote memorisation, encouraging a deeper understanding of vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure.
From 30 students representing schools nationwide, 17 have advanced to the final round, which will be held on June 14 to mark the Day of the African Child—further emphasising the initiative’s commitment to nurturing the potential of Africa’s youth.
Take M, which also organises the prestigious Gambia National Spelling Bee, is steadily establishing itself as a champion of language mastery and educational empowerment among school-aged children.
The Day of the African Child, commemorated every year on June 16, honours the memory of students killed during the 1976 Soweto Uprising in South Africa, where thousands of Black children protested against the apartheid regime’s education policies. The day also serves to spotlight the challenges African children face and to advocate for their rights.
At the event, Mr Jacob Fernandi Mendy, one of the “word custodians,” acknowledged the competition’s difficulty. “This is no easy task for children,” he said. “It demands strong support from both parents and teachers to help boost morale and encourage these young learners to rise to the challenge.”
The competition is more than a test of knowledge—it cultivates essential academic and life skills such as critical thinking, self-confidence, and public speaking, all of which are valuable during exams and in future endeavours.
Mr Tunde, the visionary behind the project, explained that the initiative is designed to support The Gambia’s Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education. “This competition is part of our contribution to improving the quality of education at the foundational level,” he said. “Investing in children’s literacy is investing in the future of the continent.”
As the finals approach, excitement is building among students, educators, and parents. The Wordland Africa Competition is more than a spelling contest—it’s a powerful platform for empowering the next generation of African leaders through the transformative power of words.
