Dharavi class IX girls raise $4,795 to start library

Mumbai: Hidden in a tiny bylane of Dharavi is a bright blue room, where over 20 children are reading everything from Disney comics to science fiction. The small room, with wooden shelves on both walls, is the Friends library.

The best part? It’s run by eight class IX students. The girls, from the Guru Nanak High School and Kamarajar Memorial High School in Dharavi, started the library in February.
The library has now over 350 books, which children can borrow at a refundable deposit of Rs20. “Children in the area never got a chance to read as there was no library in the area,” said Menaga Nadar, one of the founders.

The idea of a library struck them at the Avasara Leadership Fellows programme, an intensive after-school enrichment programme for adolescent girls from urban slums. It was here that they first read books beyond their texts.

However, turning the idea into a reality wasn’t an easy task. “We started off with a plan. Initially, we wanted to run it for around six months. We realised we would need Rs60,000,” said Sweety Pavithra, one of the eight founders.

Hope came from the Avarasa programme. “We approached a teacher from the US, who was at the programme, to host a Kickstarter page for us.”
Kickstarter is an online funding platform for creative projects, which allows people to present an idea to raise funds. Also, the project requires an American citizen to be part of the idea.

“The girls soon started creating content for raising funds and also made a video explaining their concept. In three days, the project received $4,795, almost five times the requirement. The next step was to find the perfect space.

“Joba’s (one of the girls from the group) parents offered us the first floor of their house for a rent of Rs4,000,” said Mansi Singh. The girls took over the place with a bucket of paint and brushes to add colour to their dream.

“It’s so great to see these girls work on their own. From planning, execution and problem solving, they have managed all by themselves,” said Roopa Purushothaman, founder of Avasara Leadership Institute.

With more funds at their disposal, the girls are now planning to train a younger batch to run the library as they move to class X.

Source::: DNA, 12-03-2014.