Chandigarh
16 August 2017
Kulbir singh kalsi
Today, David Rose, -founder of Children’s Suitcase Library, from United Kingdom came to Kitabghar-the Children’s Centre of Yuvsatta at Bapudham Colony with gifts of books and friendship letters written by School students in UK. To support education for marginalized Children’s Suitcase Library an NGO collects books, educational and sports material from Schools in UK for distribution among less privileged children’s based in Kenya and India.
Sharing his concerns David shared that ‘I really want to begin to establish now an ongoing correspondence between the schoolchildren here and the children in Bapu Dham and in UK, also Africa. Apart from the donated materials, this is for me the essence of my project, creating a link between the children here, and their peers in UK. These letters, drawings and postcards, telling each other of their lives’, hopes, and dreams for the future, will go some way, I hope, to break down prejudices and misconceptions that through ignorance and lack of education sometimes arise in poor, multi-cultural cities such as Bradford, where the schools I work with are based’.
David Rose who otherwise is a School teacher and musician was accompanied by his two daughters Tegan & Marcy and son Wilf. The books for Bapudham kids were donated by School students of Belle Vve Girls Academy, Bradford and Shade Primary School, Todmorden, UK.
Thanking David and Children’s Suitcase Library Pramod Sharma, Coordinator of Yuvsata said that it’s a proven fact that “Kids who learn to read when they’re young are less likely to end up in prison, drop out of school, or take drugs. And unfortunately, many children in marginalized families, especially in slum areas are struggling with learning how to read, haven’t had exposure to interesting reading material, or simply don’t have examples of reading for understanding and leisure. So more and more such initiatives are need of the hour.
