An old-age home in Banashankari, Bengaluru doubles up as a library every week for children from underprivileged backgrounds.
The community library, which was started in late 2016, is named ‘Buguri’ (spinning top). The library is an initiative of Hasiru Dala, an NGO that works for the welfare of the ragpickers community, Better India reported.
Getting children to walk in and pick up the books turned out to be easy as several children wandered into the space when the library was being set up. These children were encouraged to pick up paintbrushes to fill the then-white walls with colour, an activity that helped them view the library as a fun space.
The initiative to inculcate reading habits among children in the area was spearheaded by Lakshmi Karunakaran, who has been working with volunteers to conduct reading sessions with children of around 200 families since February 2017.
Today, the Buguri community library houses over 2,000 books – in Kannada, English, Tamil and Hindi.
Children between the ages of six to 16 are divided into two groups. From Wednesday to Saturday, the children are engaged in reading and storytelling. On Sundays, they take part in activities like painting, drawing, theatre and beatboxing.
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