24th September was a very special day for all of us at Pratham Books. We managed to create a book in 4 languages in 2 days. But, we also had many friends from within our community volunteer to become a ‘Pratham Books Champion‘ and conduct storytelling sessions in their neighbourhoods. We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.
Today’s story comes from Subrat Goswami who conducted a storytelling sessions in Bodakho village and Mahabadia village (near Bhopal). Subrat works with the Archaeological Survey of India. Apart from observing the wide gap that exists between different classes of society, Subrat also realized that many people have the means to contribute to society but don’t know how or whom to support. Subrat decided to utilize his weekends to work with rural kids and women. Thus, Ahambhumika was started in Bhopal. Ahambhumika has received enormous support from many people they have connected to through social media and all current initiatives are being run by individual contributions only (not by government or corporate support).
Subrat conducted two storytelling sessions – one with the children at the village school and one with the women who attend the Grain school. Subrat writes …
They have never imagined that some day people like us will come to their school and tell them a story.Even their teacher would join in telling stories to them.They had never seen books other than the course books provided to them by the government. But they were fortunate enough when last year Pratham Books donated books to them. They twisted the pages of the colourful story books with happiness and read them with curiosity.Yes, I am talking about the tribal children of a primary school of village Bodakho, district Bhopal.
On 24.09.11 at 10.00 AM, we organsied a story telling seesion of the story “Neeche se upar” sent by Pratham books to us. The teacher of the school Mr. Manful also joined this session. Both of us read the story and enjoyed it a lot. Thanks a lot Pratham Books for this wonderful initiative.
(Note : the date on the camera was set wrong when these photos were taken)
During evening we had the story telling session at the Grain School in village Mahabadia, district Bhopal. Like the school children, this was the 1st time the women of the Grain School were listening to the story. Besides Subrat, founder and volunteer of Ahambhumika, Kamla bai and Manisha (students of Grain School) also joined the session and read the story. They have recently learned how to read and write in Hindi. They were surprised to know that this story “Neeche se upar” was written in a couple of hours online. The women and girls of Grain School enjoyed the session.
Thank you Subrat for spreading the joy of reading!
Note : Ahambhumika is also in the process of creating a library for the children in Bodakho village. If you want to donate books, you can contact them here.
Click here to read the stories sent in by all the Pratham Books Champions.
If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting ‘a book in every child’s hand’, write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.