‘Bookshaw’ visits ‘Mera Ghar’

Rawalpindi: The Association of Business, Professional and Agricultural Women (ABP&AW) IR Branch initiated its ‘Kitab Dost’ Project in November 2020 and since then has been visiting different schools and facilities in lower-income areas and underprivileged communities. The idea behind the initiative is to highlight the benefits of recreational reading. This leads to critical thinking, analytical skills, better writing expressions creative imagination and sufficient vocabulary.

Recently ABP&AW has invested in a rickshaw and converted it into a mobile library namely ‘Bookshaw’. The colourful and well-decorated vehicle stocked with reading material now merrily goes all round Rawalpindi providing an opportunity for kids to sit and browse through their favourite books. The team has visited 14 different schools in Rawalpindi and has received a tremendous response.

‘Bookshaw’ visited a well-run facility ‘Mera Ghar’ near Westridge Rawalpindi which houses over a hundred girls (three to thirteen years old) The team engaged the kids with a well-structured two hour activity which was thoroughly enjoyed by their audience.

After some nursery rhymes and ‘Taranas’ which are an integral part of the activity the kids were given papers and colours to draw. The team had brought pictures of National heroes Arfa Karim and Iqbal Masih. Who were also talked about.

Addressing the children Tahmeena Malik President (ABP&AW) said she was delighted with the response and that books should be a part of their daily lives. Distracting devices like the mobiles, IPads and similar gadgets should be avoided as much as possible and their use discouraged at this stage. The kids were given a free hand to select the books of their own choice and read.

The team comprised of volunteers Tania Ahsan, Saba Alavi, Naseem, Nasreen Ilyas and Tahmeena Malik. The activity ended on a happy note with promised to re-visit ‘Mere Ghar’