Ashoka Mallika is only seven years old but her storytelling skills can put a grandmother to shame! She volunteers to narrate one of her favorite stories and soon has every one in rapt attention. She has an appealing lisp but it is her changing expressions that endear her to everyone. Suddenly she stops and sticks her tongue out. She has forgotten the name of some character in her story. Without wasting a minute, she rushes to the corner library and pulls out the book and opens the page and continues the story by reading it to the class.
Most of her classmates love the “story period.” Each day, the class teacher, Nipunisa Devika, pulls out a book and reads a story to the students. She also encourages them to take the books home and tells the parents to spend some time with the children by reading to them but unfortunately, not all parents from this village know how to read.
Mallika is lucky because her father is a school teacher and her mother, a home maker, takes much interest in Mallika’s studies. Mallika also has an elder brother who indulges her by reading stories out loud to her. “I have to fight with him to get him to read stories to me. After he finishes his studies, he is always playing with his friends and I have to wait a long time to hear a story from him.” On being asked why she troubles her brother. “Sometimes in the evening my mother is busy cooking dinner and I would be too sleepy by the time she finishes with her work. I cannot read that fast and I will have to return the library book without having heard the story if he does not read it out to me!” Mallika smiles and crinkles her eyes to indicate that it was a fair justification to fight!
-- Reena Luke
It takes a visionary organisation like Room to Read to do this. Its mind boggling, to see the growth in leaps and bounds. You are all appreciated!
Posted by: samuel mbobu | Nov 30, 2009 at 03:24 AM