How kids like books
Tags: Personal Story, Education, Volunteering, Kids Books

8 years ago I was very adventurous.

My first internship in international development was very exciting. Thrilled but full of fears and doubts I left the comfortable European capital to go to Malaysia to work with refugees. Such a movie story it was.

I came full of expectations to do something meaningful and “important”. I thought I will manage a big important development project, deal with donors, and in the end find the long-awaited solution to save the world. And what I did in reality — was settling a library for the new school for refugees kids.

A school that the NGO operated before was small and not adapted to the age of kids. (My photo)

At that moment it seemed so not glamorous and useless. Eventually, I worked on other projects better related to my international economics studies and which I could mention in my internship report. Yet I never mentioned anywhere that most of the 5 months I spend sitting in a small hot room ranging boxes with books.

The office of the NGO I was interning for was located on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, near the highway that connects the capital to other cities. There was a huge parking lot with many 2 story offices buildings, a shopping centre, outdoor food courts with Malay and Indian food. The smell of gas and spices fill the air, dust under the feet and sticky heat all day long.

I was working in a small lifeless room with nothing but some shelves along the walls. The building was still under renovation. In a month there was supposed to be a new school opening in this space.

I was almost always alone in this part of the building. The main office was next door. There was an AC, good chairs, clean floor, and WC. I was coming for breaks to breathe a bit and have a chat. Most of my time I spend unpacking countless boxes that came from international donors from China, Australia, New Zealand. The books were very different: textbooks for different grades, fairy tales, some adventure series, romance for teenagers, some funny books for toddlers.

I needed to put a sticker with a number on each book, register it in my Excel sheet, put a stamp of the NGO and sort it on the shelves. It was boring and monotonous. My hands were dirty from the dust the books were covered in. I was choking on dust. It was everywhere. But I kept my work.

At that point, I was hypnotized by the process. Being a total maniac for ranging and sorting things I was good for this job. But the job wasn’t good for me. It was not going to help me accomplish the goal I was planning to accomplish by taking 15 hours flight. At least it was what I thought.

At the end when I ranged everything, put books by age, subject, size. The room became colourful and full of life. We put some pictures on the walls, made a registry. Everything was ready when the school opened.

I saw kids coming in, looking around with interest. Kids who lost their usual way of life before even starting living, kids whose future was very vague. They could find some sense of normality in these books, discover new worlds, learn something new.

I found out in a few days that my perfect order of this library was ruined, books were lying everywhere, many taken without registry. At first, my heart bleeds. But then I thought, this is what life really is — not an order, but a mess. The bad sign would be if nobody touched them — no interest, no need of knowledge, no curiosity. Kids should stay kids. Discover, enjoy life even when in an alien environment.

I was leaving Malaysia satisfied. Yes, I would be happy to work on a big project, to do more of a project management tasks, that could look nice in my CV. But instead, I felt an accomplishment. I left my fingerprints on these shelves and books.

I felt warm when I read the story of a camel bearing books in Pakistan.

The project started by the local women working in the education system after the schools were closed due to Covid-19 last March and 50 million students were left to study from home.

Camel carrying books for kids to borrow pass in each village of the area a few times a week to make an exchange. The idea of the camel is not new. There are other examples in different countries that already tried to use camels in remote villages with rough access. Every time it has an enormous success among families and particularly children.

It is amazing how small and simple things can make a difference. How the love of books and curiosity for new knowledge and stories unite people on different continents with different backgrounds.

I found the NGO with the support of who this initiative took place — Alif Laila Book Bus Society. Their FB feed is actually so heartwarming. It is not about poverty and misery, it is about small things that can make happy kids.

I truly advise you to have a look and if you want to contact them to see if you can support their actions.

Also if you want proof of my story — there is a link for the NGO — Malaysian Social Research Institute.

They are still there, And the school is still there. They keep doing a great job for the refugees and particularly for kids.