Kitab Korner: Recommended Read (1)
When I was in Bangalore some time in June I looked out of my car window and saw a poor old woman crawl away from her even older husband on the side of an over-crowded main street, where cars were rushing by a mile a minute (pictured below). This scene reminded me of a New York Times article I had read a couple of months ago – “Fighting to Shut Out the Real India” – (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/world/asia/07iht-letter07.html?_r=1).
It’s easy to become desensitized to poverty when it is ubiquitous. And I find myself guilty of looking at acres of slums, beggars with stumps for arms, starving cripples on street corners and not feeling, not caring as much as I should. The article was a good reminder that forgetting that the "real India" exists is a convenient strategy. Not an acceptable one.
Kitab Korner: On the Road (10)
June 21, 2011
Initial Workshops
We had our books, stationary & other supplies with us when we arrived at Ms. Usha Devi’s school (Shri Sharada Vidya Niketan or SSVN). It was only our second visit to the school, but we were prepared to hand over the materials and run our first workshop (where we train the staff and students on how to catalogue and organize a library).
SSVN is very limited for space (if you remember from my earlier description – it is like a multi-layered cake where floors have been built on floors as and when maximum capacity was reached). Consequently, we decided that it would be most practical to set up a small library against the far wall on the ground floor; a wall which was already shared by the ninth grade classroom and Ms. Devi’s office. On the plus side, the library would be easily accessible for all students and it would be right under Ms. Devi’s nose.
As soon as we entered, Ms. Devi rounded up her most experienced and responsible teachers and students and had them stand around her desk. I marveled at how kindly she directed everyone, and how obediently they listened. A wonderful leader, she earned the respect of those around her, including me.
We first showed everyone the books we had brought – always a highlight for me. I feel like Oprah during the “Oprah’s Favorite Things” episodes where she gifts the audience her favorite things, from scented moisturizers to cars. And no matter how small or big the gift is the audience is always beside themselves with excitement.
I accept that it is selfish (in a way) to take enjoyment in your own pleasure as you are trying to do a social act. But I can’t lie. Man, it feels awesome. The teachers and students light up at the sight of the first hand, excellent quality books. Seeing the excitement of the kids as they itch to get their hands on the glossy Encyclopedias and the teachers as their brains run a mile a minute thinking about the 100 different ways they can use their new resources… seeing that makes me genuinely happy.
We spent about an hour at Usha Devi’s school, ending the workshop with the tasks we wanted them to complete before our next visit.
***
After SSVN, we made our way to the Dolphin School, to once again hand over the books and stationary and run an initial workshop. The principal was a lot more soft-spoken at this school. She also stressed that during our workshop we had to convince the teachers about the value of the library. It was difficult for her to motivate her employees to extend themselves beyond the job they were paid for. Ah…this made me nervous.
We ran the workshop in a kindergarten classroom for about 10 to 15 teachers. Looking around the room, I could see genuine interest in about 2 or 3 of their expressions.
In social work, how well a sustainable project runs is in large part due to the community benefiting from the project. We, as Kitab Korner, are here to provide the resources, run training workshops, to follow up and monitor the libraries, and to run activity sessions. But what we do will be inconsequential if the community benefiting from the library does not step up and deliver on their end of the partnership as well.
We had a good feeling about the Dolphin School during our first visit. I hope that with the help of 2 or 3 teachers and the principal, our initial hunch will be proven correct.
Picture One: First workshop at SSVN. Principal, teachers, students and Anbu look on eagerly as we teach them how to cover and catalogue the books.
Picture Two: Ms. Usha Devi (in the pretty pink sari) asks her students if they are able to understand how a library works, to which they reply with a confident "yes, ma'am."
Picture Three: First workshop at Dolphin School. Teachers and Radha, the school principal (seated in the left corner), listen on as we show them the books we have brought and talk them through our organization process.
Picture Four: A view of the workshop from the other end of the room.
Kitab Korner: On the Road (9)
June 21, 2011
Spit
The agenda for this Tuesday morning was fairly packed. We had to first visit the Aerolex Government Model Primary School – the one school we had still not seen. We were then scheduled to run two introductory workshops across the city – one at Ms. Usha Devi’s school and the other at the Dolphin School.
At 9AM sharp, our car arrived at the entrance to the Aerolex School. I opened the door and was instantly hit with a nauseating smell. Months, or maybe even years, of garbage had piled up just outside of the school. Pigs, crows, cows, flies and dogs were reveling in a mountain of mud, feces, and rotten food. The image is vile. But the reality is that these unsanitary waste mountains are a prevalent feature of urban life in India. A volunteer at the school told me that a few months ago she had rallied her students to protest to the authorities about the garbage. However, not so much as a piece of paper had been picked up. I can just imagine a well-fed, self-satisfied gentleman chucking a cigarette onto the trash as he is being lectured on waste management by a group of desperate six-year-olds. It paints a delightful picture, doesn’t it?
We were visiting the school per the request of a group of volunteers who are intimately involved with bettering every aspect of the institution. The volunteers’ efforts include collecting uniforms and shoes for the students, running meetings for mothers to get them involved in the girl child’s education, and soliciting donations to renovate classrooms. The volunteers even sit in for the teachers when necessary. And apparently “when necessary” comes along more often than not.
The volunteer group was keen to have a Kitab Korner set-up in the High School and Elementary School. We were confident that the group would do an excellent job monitoring the libraries, so we committed to working with them on both projects. After briefly discussing schedules and timelines we said our goodbyes and headed for the exit gate.
A group of boys were playing cricket in the courtyard (just before the gate) underneath an expansive banyan tree. One of the boys absent-mindedly turned around and spat with an impressive amount of gusto. Unfortunately, the spit met my jeans before the floor. Spitting and urinating are commonplace activities in India. In most countries, you see “no littering” signs everywhere. In India you see, “no urinating”.
Granted, the boy did feel bad for spitting on me. Especially after I sassily lectured him on how hepatitis is spread through saliva. And he and his cricket team made quite a show of dragging me to the tap and scrubbing my jeans clean with water.
As I made my way through the exit gate, I made a mental note to run a workshop on 'spitting', or more accurately 'not spitting,' once the Kitab Korners started up at this school.
Picture One: A prominent mid-day meals NGO bringing lunch to the school for the students. Mid-day meals incentivize parents to send their children to school instead of making them stay home and work and they help provide proper nutrition to students.
Picture Two: A list of individuals who donated money to the school for the renovation of the main hall. Help is everywhere!
Picture Three: Some of the volunteers sorting through uniforms, shoes and books in the main hall.
Picture Four: Some of the boys who were playing cricket in the courtyard.
Kitab Korner: On the Road (8)
June 18, 2011
A Question Worth Asking
(“Readers” is a fictitious name for the organization in this blog)
After our visit to The Round Table School, I was quite keen to meet with the founder of Readers, the company that had initially organized the library there.
We began the meeting by telling the founder what Kitab Korner is; detailing the history of how it first came about, to where it is now, to where we hope it will be in a few years. The founder, in turn, told us about Readers. He had started his organization 10 or so years ago. He wanted to provide lesser-privileged schools a system for managing their libraries. The founder said that it had taken several years of trial and error to perfect his system. And he now had a simple and effective model which schools could use to organize their books, to monitor the students’ reading levels and progress, and to help students make the most of what they learn through books. He walked us through the system and also showed us some of the activities his organization distributes to schools.
Readers introduces their system into schools either directly or indirectly. If I remember accurately, Readers sets-up about 20-30 (though it could just as easily be 80…my memory is failing me) libraries themselves each year. The organization does not provide any books. And they charge the schools a fee for their services. Alternatively, Readers sells their services to a third-party organization; they train the organization on library management and provide the organization with teaching materials. The third-party organization then adopts the system and implements it in the schools they work in. One very prominent non-profit, for example, bought Readers’ services before starting a project to roll out 5000 libraries in North India.
Readers also works with the Government of Karanataka. The founder mentioned that the Government of Karnataka had committed 24 crores or 240 million rupees to establishing libraries in its 45,000 schools. If we exclude administration costs (which is a laughable notion), each library is worth about 5,300 rupees or about 120 dollars. I shudder to think about how stretched resources are in my country. And how inadequate each of these libraries must be. I have to emphasize that I have not been able to confirm these values. But I also have no reason to believe that they are untrue.
The basic library that Kitab Korner provides is about 45,000 rupees or about 1000 dollars. About 90% of the money given by a sponsor who “adopts-a-library” goes directly into the library. The remaining 10% is mostly spent on transportation costs. And our workshops are free.
I had several opinions about Readers once we had finished our meeting. And the following paragraphs – where I brain dump my thoughts – are not intended to argue how one organization is superior to another. Rather, the paragraphs reflect how something as simple as setting up a library can be accomplished in many different ways, and it is important to think critically about which formula works best. To ask – is what we are doing and the way we are doing it the most effective method to instigate the change we hope to see?
I really liked Readers’ model for organizing books. It is simple and effective. And it lends itself to easily measuring the progress each child makes in reading – a critical feature for understanding a library’s ultimate ‘social impact’.
On the other hand, I struggled to reconcile the organization’s desire to encourage reading in truly underprivileged communities with the fact that they charge a fee for their services. Granted, there is a logic behind charging a fee – it teaches the community to value a resource. However, I believe that there are more suitable ways to encourage an underprivileged community to care for and utilize a library. Examples include, involving the community in the set-up process so they understand the effort taken in establishing the library, running several workshops on the importance of reading (a lesson that cannot be taken for granted in India), and, if the community is able to, asking them to invest in a very small part of the library.
I think the most significant difference between Readers and Kitab Korner is that they do not directly provide books, whereas we do. There is a tradeoff involved with this strategy. On one hand, Readers is able to reach more schools given a certain amount of funds. On the other hand, we provide a variety of books and quality books that 1) satisfy the desperate lack of good educational resources at most underprivileged schools, 2) cater to exactly what the school requires and 3) inspire children to read and learn.
Kitab Korner: On the Road (7)
June 17, 2011
Books & Rats
After spending the first part of the week jostling through Bangalore traffic and finalizing our schools, we felt we were ready to source our stationary and books. We had met with the principals, teachers and students and had a clear sense of the books each school required.
Since this is our first time working in Bangalore, we do not have a network of contacts we can rely on – printers, painters, publishers and the like. So, similar to how we initially functioned in Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad, we leveraged our personal relationships and 'Google search' to start to create that network.
Sanjay Bajaj referred us to a large-scale printer, tucked away behind a main road in the heart of Bangalore. The printer was set-up in what must have once been a beautiful colonial Bangalore bungalow. But, like most of the ‘once beautiful’ Bangalore bungalows, this building was now rundown and covered by years and years of shrubbery. After two meetings and viewing several proofs, the printer prepared a summer’s worth of stationary and marketing materials for us. We took his card, ready to advance order next time.
In Pune and Mumbai, our main source for the books are various publishers and book houses including India Book House, Scholastic, Tulika Publications, National Book Trust, Pratham Books (a local non-profit with highly subsidized books for the underprivileged) etc. Publishers usually give a 30% discount on the market retail price for all books. In the future, when we are operating at a larger scale, I hope to source the books directly from an even more fundamental contact we have in Delhi.
India Book House in Bangalore has books from the publishers we use most often – Dreamland, Scholastic, and ACK. So, we decided to pay them a visit first.
I cannot describe how frustrating and time consuming sourcing books at a new location is. I wish I could simply advance order the books online and have them delivered to each school in Bangalore. The reality is, however, that unless the manager and staff at a new location is familiar with our organization, the order won’t happen on time…if at all. On that first visit we have to show up with a business card, some marketing materials, invoices from past purchases at a similar organization (even if it is in another city), and a hefty down payment. (Though, to credit India Book House in Bangalore, they did not ask for any money in advance.)
In a way, though, I am glad that I have spent several hours digging through stacks of books and weaving through a maze of shelves at many a book house. It has given me very thorough first-hand knowledge of the best reading resources available to children in India. My talents are sharpened to the extent that I can rattle off and describe, in detail, most of the Dreamland series available to first-time English readers.
Because we wanted our order from India Book House to be completed quickly, we sat in the store and pushed the process along. A very focused gentleman scanned each book onto a single computer. A few electricity cuts caused delays, but on the whole, it was a fairly smooth process given that one man battled 2500 books.
When it came time to pack the boxes – four or five gentlemen suddenly got involved. It was only one man’s job to do the packing. But the other men in the shop could not resist the allure of folding the cardboard, taping the corners, and tightening the rope. The whole fiasco was quite telling of India in general. Whenever anything remotely interesting is happening everyone feels entitled to get involved. If two men are arguing on a street corner, there will be another 30 men standing around them – listening, staring, commenting. I remember this one time in Delhi when my mom, sister and I were driving to the golf course and there was a rat in the car. My mom pulled over to the side of an upmarket residential road. We took out a golf club and started dancing around the car, periodically jabbing the 7 iron through the open windows and doors. After about ten minutes or so we still had no rat. What we did have was a crowd of 4 to 5 “chaukidars” or watchmen, several “aiyas” or maids, a few fruit sellers and a couple of passerbys. One watchman had his gun pointed at our car, ready to shoot the rat. Or, at least that's what it looked like. And two of the maids were loudly discussing the variety and size of rodents they had had the pleasure of coming across in their own homes.
We rounded off our purchase of books at Crosswords – the Barnes & Nobles or Borders of India. We needed certain books that were not readily available at the publishers.
Next time we operate in Bangalore, India Book House has reassured me that I just need to call in and place the order and they will have it ready and delivered to the location shortly. Even if it takes a little longer than “shortly”, I look forward to the comparative ease of our next transaction.
Picture Two: Getting the books ready, one step at a time
Picture Three: Apparently it takes four people to pack one box
Picture Four: Part of a 'Good Habits' poster we bought for each school. Very much Indianized.
Kitab Korner: On the Road (6)
June 16, 2011
Round Table
(“Readers” is a fictitious name for the organization mentioned in this blog)
We met Sanjay in front of a Pizza Corner at 10.45AM. He then directed us to The Round Table School. We had travelled about 2 kilometers or for about 15 minutes when he asked us to take a U-turn from under a highway onto a narrow one-way road. We were making our way down the road at a cool (and almost exhilarating) 30 km/hour when we realized that we had overshot the turning to the school. Shoot. We had two options at this point. First, we could continue down the one-way street, turn back onto the main road, and make the U-turn under the highway again. This honest decision would compromise another 30 minutes of our time. Or, we could turn around and make our way down the narrow one-way road, against the oncoming traffic. India being India, we naturally chose the second option. As luck would have it, a cop was standing on the side of the road. But, again, India being India, the cop did not fine us for our actions. Instead, the mustached fellow, in his brown suit, aviator sunglasses, and white helmet twirled his wooden baton and helped us along, directing us around the potholes and oncoming auto rickshaws, scooters and cars. I love the randomness and ridiculousness of this country.
The school was located several small “gullys” or little streets off the narrow road. There was a huge red clay playground in front of the gates. "The Round Table School” was proudly painted across the front of the main white building in big blue letters.
The first thing that struck me about the school was how it had literally been pieced together by donations that The Round Table Society had either given themselves or sourced. Science labs, books, classrooms, walls, meals, toilets, and staircases…you name it and it was sponsored by something or someone.
There is a definite gap in the system as far as educating the underprivileged in India is concerned. And people and NGOs exist to fill in this gaping hole. One NGO might help provide meals to schools, while another one might help paint walls in schools, while another might tutor children after school, while even another might set up libraries… I believe that grassroots change in India will ultimately come from the synergy of these various individuals and organizations.
There were plaques and signs all over The Round Table School, displaying and thanking the various sponsors and donors for their gifts. It was a beautiful display of the combined effort it has taken to create the school. A visual model for what individuals and NGOs working within the education space should strive to achieve.
Sanjay introduced us to the principal of the school, Mr. Anand. A tall and enterprising man, Mr. Anand greeted us with a firm handshake and a soft smile.
Mr. Anand led us to the library the school already had. The library was neat and organized, yet the few books they had were not of a very good quality. Mr. Anand and Sanjay explained that a Bangalore based organization called Readers worked with the school to organize the books into levels and to educate the school on which activities they could run. The organization, however, was not an NGO. They did not source any books and they charged a fee for their training workshops.
I flipped through our booklet and shared our work with Mr. Anand. I highlighted that our services compliment the process that is already in place at the library. I explained that we could help flesh out the library with the critical ingredient of more books and quality books. Sharing this news, I could see that Mr. Anand’s expression was both stunned and excited. He shook his head and said, “it is a fantastic job. Providing books.”
We then went upstairs to see the 600 children at the school receive their mid-day meal. Unfortunately, because we were running 15 minutes late we missed the prayer. Sanjay was quite upset about this because he said that the prayer was truly moving and he had been excited for us to experience it.
After lunch, we made our way down to the administration office. Children in the 2nd grade were lined up outside to get their textbooks for the new school year. Mr. Anand and Sanjay asked us to hand the books to them. As each child stepped forward to receive the books, they said a quiet, sweet “thanks” and ran away. I looked at the content of the government-supplied textbooks I was giving them and thought of the gleeful excitement they would experience when they received our books.
On our way out of the school we made some more small talk with Mr. Anand. Mr. Anand told us that he had been the principal of the school for 22 years. “That’s how old I am,” I exclaimed, to which everyone laughed. I am still not too sure why.
Before we parted ways, Sanjay helped us get in touch with Readers. We fixed a meeting for Saturday (June 18th). We were keen to learn more about the organization and to also ensure that we were not stepping on their toes.
We also asked Mr. Anand if we could bring the books and stationary to the school the following Wednesday (June 22nd) to run a workshop. And then inaugurate the library and sponsor a mid-day meal that Friday (June 24th). Since we had missed the mid-day meal prayer I thought it would be a good idea for my mom, sister and I to personally sponsor the meal on the day of the inauguration in honor of my father's birthday. Mr. Anand agreed to each of our requests. If all went as planned, it looked like we had a tight but exciting schedule in place.
Picture Two: Each room at the school is sponsored by a different individual
Picture Three: Even the cupboards are sponsored by different people/organizations
Picture Four: Giving the 2nd graders their textbooks for the year
