Showing posts with label Bookwallah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bookwallah. Show all posts

Monday 24 October 2016

Chess, Books & Children in an Orphanage

What matters, in the end, is the value you add to the people around you. This essentially is what I learned reading books and teaching chess to children here in Mangalore.

Of course, life is more than just money, jobs, family, etc. They have made countless films and written a zillion books to tell one simple thing to a generation of humans – be happy. But how to be happy? Life would become simpler if we could answer just this one question. Like you, even I wrestled with this problem for the better part my life.

I discovered Bookwallah thanks to a friend in Pune who works for the NGO. A simple Google search revealed that Bookwallah has tons of volunteers, a compassionate bunch of young people that makes it a vibrant community. They used books to change lives. The concept looked simple and interesting.
There were books, and there were children; there was nobody to guide them.
When Bharat and I first walked into the orphanage where Bookwallah operates in Mangalore, it was not exactly what I had expected it to be. Volunteers were nowhere to be found. Except one, and she was painting cartoon characters on the walls.

There were books, and there were children; there was nobody to guide them. We felt responsible for these kids. Ms. Sharon Lewis, the volunteer who was painting the walls, later explained that the volunteers do join them. The problem was that they were not committing themselves. College attendance and jobs would mean that nobody could stay for long, and hence, the children never connected with anyone deeply. How could they?
That is Bharat (red) with the kids. We started working with these children in early August. Our first mission was to win their trust, and this we did in a variety of ways.
In the beginning, there were volunteers who would come regularly, but they had their own commitments to take care of. It was understandable, but it also motivated the ones who remained to work harder.
We saw that these books were making the children better individuals. It was clear that we were adding value to their future.
We read them stories from the books in the library, making the sessions as interactive as possible.
Books make you a great problem-solver. However, I realized that it was not enough to be monotonous. We needed a way to impart the same problem-solving skills to the children, but with newer methods.
Luckily, I had the perfect tool to do just that — chess!
Chess develops a child’s calculating ability and imagination — both the right and the left sides of the brain.

The children loved it! Chess and books turned out to be a delicious combination of education and fun.

Bharat used a laptop and internet connection to make it a better experience. In today’s day and age, a child must learn to operate the computer and surf the internet responsibly.

Things got a little better early this month — Bookwallah Mangalore received an assortment of activity books for the children from Disney!

And now, the children have so much to do and learn. Not to forget, have fun!
The kids had their own way to thank Bookwallah and Disney:
Mighty pleased with their new books, aren’t they?
The girls have their own unique way to say ‘Thank You!’
Another thing we worked on and still teach them is discipline.
The results are there to see. They pack up their books and keep them at the right place after the activities for the day finish.
One of the kids even learned to take pictures with my point-and-shoot. Here, a kid got a picture of the Mangalorean Kingfisher.
Mangalore

Dakshin Kannada (South Canara) is one of the most pleasant places one can visit in India. The district is a picture of narrow, winding streets, fringed with coconut palms, quaint houses with terracotta-tiled roofs, pristine beaches, temples and churches, and the aroma of spicy coconut curries. It has preserved its old-world charm.
Rivers and beaches are a common theme in Mangalore.
You can always walk to the beach and have child-like fun like this!
It is a pleasant place to be! Do visit Bookwallah Mangalore, and add value to these children’s lives with books!