Children sitting under a tree in street number 10 of Tajabad area of Peshawar were eagerly waiting for a motorcycle rider to come. A motorcycle rider who takes them to the world of fairy tales.
Suddenly, Mohammad Amir’s motorcycle was seen on the side of the street.
Aamir’s bike is not an ordinary motorcycle but it was a mobile library.
As soon as Aamir arrived, the children gathered around the mobile library that had been built on the back of the bike.
This box-shaped mobile library was decorated with beautiful colorful paintings on the outside.
Aamir parked his bike and another volunteer who came with him laid a plastic door in the shade of a peepal tree on the street, on which all the children sat in rows. Around 30 children were eager to hear Aamir’s oral stories sitting on the river.
Aamir chose an interesting story from the many stories in the mobile library and moved on to the children.
The children greeted Aamir enthusiastically, after which Aamir asked all the children how they were doing and engaged in some gossip.
Now Amir began to tell them the interesting and instructive story of the man and the fox.
As soon as the story started, all the children became quiet and listened to Aamir attentively. Aamir was narrating this story to him in simple words and small sentences.
It was a very beautiful scene, when the innocent children dressed in dusty clothes were sitting on the river listening to the story.
These young children enjoyed the story and asked Aamir questions.
At the end of the story, Aamir tells the conclusion of the story to the children, saying that children should not believe the words of unknown people and should not go anywhere with unknown people, because it can prove harmful for children.
At the end of the story, the children were very happy.
After the story ended, some boys got up and started playing while the girls sat and talked among themselves.
More than 330 books in the library started from 2021.
Social worker Aamir while talking to the representative of Digital said today that these are children belonging to the deprived class, whose areas do not have schools and who cannot even go to school due to poverty. For these children, “Kitab Dost” organization took the initiative of mobile library.
According to Amir, this process has been going on since 2021 in which he takes his mobile library every week to areas of Peshawar where children cannot go to school. Since it is not possible to deliver books everywhere, his organization came up with an elegant solution to the problem and built a library on a motorcycle, as the motorcycle can move comfortably even in narrow streets. Therefore, many books related to Urdu and English stories, riddles and Islamic events were placed in the library behind the motorcycle and thus an attempt was made to reach such children through a mobile library for whom story books are not normally available. It was difficult to reach.
Aamir said that children who can read the story are also given these books to take home and the next week they are asked whether they have read the book or not. Some such children include Sudis and Kainat.
He said that he listens to these stories with great interest and goes home and narrates them to his parents. And also that their parents are very happy that their children are being taught.
Aamir said that the aim of this whole process is to inculcate the love of reading books and going to school in the hearts of children aged 8 to 12 years.
Aamir said that there are more than 300 books in his mobile library, some of which have been bought by Kitab Dost organization while some have been donated by volunteers.
The aim of the two mobile libraries was to create the trend of reading books.
Bushra Rahim, the founder of Kitab Dost Organization, said that in 2019, considering the declining trend in book reading, she founded “Kitab Dost” organization with the aim of bringing children closer to books.
According to him, the trend of education can be started from childhood, if children are provided with books and taught at this age, then they can develop a strong relationship with books.
Bushra Rahim established two mobile libraries in Peshawar and merged districts in 2021.
Dr. Bushra said that a large number of youth and elderly volunteers are associated with Kitab Doost. These volunteers go to different schools and teach children good books and manners through sessions.
This mobile library moving in the streets of Peshawar has become a means of attracting children to books while tying the volunteers and the society in a beautiful relationship of awareness.
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2024-09-01 14:28:08
