For many of us, finding our favorite book does not matter. Books can be easily purchased from bookstores or online. It may be a little hard for you to believe that many people do not have access to the book at all, let alone want to buy it! You must be asking, is such a thing possible? The answer to this question is yes; In some villages, accessing non-textbooks is not an easy task and you have to work hard to get them. Abdul Qadir Baluch is a librarian. About two years ago, he decided to set up a good library for the children of the village of Vashnam Dori in the Chabahar district of Sistan and Baluchestan province, so that children could read books easily.
First of all, how did this popular library start?
When I was young, there were no libraries in our village and children did not have access to extracurricular books. For this reason, I always wanted to have a library in our village so that children could read books easily. That's why I decided to change everything so that the childhood and adolescence of the village children would not be like my time. I went through a lot of hardships to do this, and from day one, there was no library. I prepared some good books and we sat in nature with the children and read books. You may be interested to know that children have never seen a non-textbook before. Therefore, it made them very happy. Some time passed like this and the number of children who became interested in books increased day by day. When I saw their interest, I decided to set up a good library for them so that they could read more books. To do this, I turned the small telecommunications building, which was no longer in use, into a library. I bought books myself and some of them were given to us by good children and teenagers writers. Many efforts finally paid off and now our village has a library with the least facilities. It is not an ordinary library, a library whose members are true book lovers.
Well, you said your library is not ordinary, how is it different from other libraries?
It is good that the library is everywhere and that children and teenagers can easily access the book. But I have seen many times that in many libraries, only the book is lent and it is taken back after a while. But in our library, everything is different. In addition to reading books, children also discuss on the subject of the book. In addition to encouraging them to read books, I tried to teach them life lessons. It is very important that all children, everywhere in our country, are able to apply what they learn from books in their lives. We are not just going to read from books and we have to learn from books.
How much do children like books in the village of Vashnam Dorri? So much that I can not describe. Children are eager to read books from the first morning when they wake up until the evening. It is very interesting to me that they do not get tired at all. I always see them with a book in the village. Some children are reading books while holding their little sibling and caring for the younger ones. Some students who read books may not pay much attention to the name of the author or the name of the publication, but our students also read the book ID. Many of them even summarize the books which they have read, which is very interesting to me.
What are the benefits of a library and reading for the village?
One of the most important benefits of the library was that I was able to convince some families who did not allow their children to go to school. Some those children could keep on their studies. With a lot of effort, the village middle school is also being set up. Besides, children now appreciate the environment and do not leave garbage on the ground. We even have plans to clean up nature in the village. Previously, some children did not know much about animals and sometimes played games and harmed sparrows or potted birds, but now they are watching the birds and even throwing seeds at them. The book helps children learn to save and not to waste. Many children become more self-confident and write beautiful texts for magazines and newspapers, many of which have been published. The library and its activities have had such a positive impact that the village of Vashnam Dori in Sistan and Baluchestan is known as the Book Village. Even tourists come to our area to see the village and the library.
Apart from reading books, what else do you do in the library?
There is a lot of work to be done in the library, but in general, we have classes and workshops on painting, art, philosophy, visual creativity, and discussions with child and adolescent writers. Since Corona pandemic, the children have been grouped together to be safe from the disease. For all its conveniences, the Corona has had the advantage of being able to communicate with educators and authors of children's and teens' books online through video calling. Our library is a combination of games and reading. In other words, in addition to reading books, we also play local games. Children of all ages are allowed to pick up books themselves from the library shelves. They even ask about the content of the book and make sure it is appropriate for their age.
Tell the children of Iran why it is important to read books? The book is the creator of man, and when we learn humanity, we can defend our rights. People who read books have something to say, and if they apply what they read in their lives, they will no longer be deceived.
