It’s music to ears whenever I hear about a project initiated by the youth for the youth. In a world of sullen Carls trying to subdue your spirit, they are being the real heroes, the young Russels earning their merit badges with their kind and cheerful nature.
It’s music to ears whenever I hear about a project initiated by the youth for the youth. In a world of sullen Carls trying to subdue your spirit, they are being the real heroes, the young Russels earning their merit badges with their kind and cheerful nature. What I’m trying to say here is two siblings recently became somewhat of local celebrities when a post showing them impart education (read basics like counting and alphabets) to street children in Karachi during evening hours went viral on social media. I’m sure most of you are already familiar with it. However, there’s another project, equally heart-warming and incredible I wish was given the same level of attention by the public: the Book Drive Campaign and Book Reading Session launched by Eternal Hope, a charity and community service organisation founded and managed by Pakistani youth, in collaboration with McDonald’s.
Theirs is a story similar to one we are told and retold as children and as adults, story about the great development that can come if we take charge as a community and rise up to address the issues and transform them, story that we somehow forget while growing up and juggling our own needs on a daily basis. When the group of six people (yes, six!) – Sameer Shehzad Salim, Nireen Shehzad Salim, Zarak Quraishi, Daniyal Quraishi, Saif Quraishi, and Noor Zoberi – came together, little did they know it would take them seven years to be able to celebrate their first large-scale project, the book drive.
Rather than adding fuel to the fire with idle laments, they decided to nip the problem in the bud: by providing plenty of books and an easy access to them. It’s pure genius! Honestly, if you have to ask why, look at it this way: a) they can engage hundreds of underprivileged students without incurring any huge expenses – it’s a charity event so the guest speakers on board don’t charge them at all; and b) those who love and/or want to read and write, but can’t due to limited resources, will get the desired exposure.
Of course, you will be highly disappointed if you had already set some high (or unreal?) standards expecting an overnight increase in the literacy rate as an outcome of this drive. But (and it’s an important one), if this reminded you of the old books – bundles of them – that are lying meaningless in your store room right now, you would know how this drive can play its role in making socially-responsible and empathetic individuals out of us. Want my suggestion? Be part of the latter! Because that’s the side apparently winning. With over 3000 books they managed to collect, the first library is functional at TY Manghopir School since August last year. As the book drive continued to expand, the team suddenly realised there was a possibility the students were not familiar with the whole concept of reading even seeing as how it was only their school had a library. Hence, the motivation to do something bigger. They began their Book Reading Session, a weekly event to be conducted at McDonald’s (Seaview outlet).
Us had a little chit-chat with them to find out about all they have achieved:
“We have had 20-25 students every Saturday for the Book Reading Session and in each session we have the guest-speakers (including teachers, writers, etc.), who basically read books in both English and Urdu. Then, after those Book Reading Sessions, McDonald’s graciously provides a Happy Meal for every kid as well as the teacher who accompanies them; they have been really understanding about it ever since.
“It’s been three weeks; for someone who has been associated with these kinds of projects for quite some time now, volunteering at different fairs and carnivals, going to different schools and teaching them to do their math or play sports properly and things like that, that’s like being in company of kids from two different schools for starters. The first week, we held our session with kids from the Qurtuba School and for the second week, we approached the same school but different children. Once we had students from Grade III to Grade V/VI of a particular school, we called the other school (TY Manghopir School – the same school that we donated the books to) so it’s a rotation type of thing.”
“It’s a start,” Sameer, an A-levels student himself, responded vehemently when asked to elaborate on the response they’ve received so far and whether they think these sessions and a Happy Meal is enough to impart knowledge and inculcate important skills in their minds. “We didn’t really know how helpful it would be initially. But then we talked to their principal after the sessions and she told us how the young boys and girls were still talking about the stories which were read out to them by the likes of Ms. Saman Shamsie, sister of Kamila Shamsie, and Sir Asim and Mrs. Zaidi, who are both teachers from Karachi Grammar School. They have been discussing our event in their school among their friends and it means it obviously did have an impact on them.
“Then also,” he agreed, “the excitement was due on part that it was the first time they were experiencing a field trip like we had arranged. The situation, however, doesn’t change the fact that they made the perfect audiences for our cause, eager to both learn and have fun at the beach simultaneously just like we intended. As for receiving objection of any sort from the parents, the principal reassured us of their support by saying that they were understanding and interested in having their child(ren) participate, it’s why they were being sent to school in the first place!”
And is it going to be Aesop’s fables and Suntra for them or does Eternal Hope have something else in mind? “We’re thinking of having a weekly workshop where we can teach them the basic English, etc. In fact, one of the teachers from the first school we called actually promised to help us out with teaching younger kids (i.e. in Grade III or below). We’re looking into more interactive endeavours for the benefit of our group. But that’s just in the pipeline; at present, it’s all about improving the Book Reading Sessions themselves. For instance, one advice we received on our first trip was to have an attractive-looking and friendly reader on our side. Next up, while the children are encouraged to ask questions if they didn’t understand anything – and believe me, they do – the stories selected initially were replaced by more basic ones prior to holding our second session.”
We wish Eternal Hope the best of good luck with this noble venture!READING CIRCLE
