Pratham Books Champion : Swechha

This International Literacy Day, Pratham Books has taken a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. Last year Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. This year we are delighted that over a 1000 sessions are happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

Josh Roberts, a volunteer at Swechha sent us the following note and pictures about their storytelling session. Swechha is a movement - a consensus among people about the nature of society, its problems and possible ways to work towards a positive change. It was launched in the year 2000 as the 'We for Yamuna' campaign. It started with a recognition of the pitiable state of the river Yamuna, the 'lifeline' of Delhi that catered to almost all the water needs of the city, but remained forgotten, ignored and unattended by the very people it nurtured. Since then, it has evolved into a full-fledged youth organization engaged in the issues of environment and social development, using awareness, communication, training and advocacy as primary tools. Learn more about their work on their website or follow them on Facebook.

We held our Literacy Carnival (Saksharta Mela) all through the day at our community library (Kitaab Ghar). 6 volunteers (Jaya, Meenakshi, Raj, Suman, Jack and my self) , 3 women (Gayatri Devi, Ratan Devi and Meena) from our women's literacy group and 90 children read, listened and narrated Paplu the Giant in English and Hindi and a few other stories. For about 6 hours, through 5 sessions, the tiny room was buzzing with activity and the magic of storytelling! Attached are some pictures from our successful day that we wanted to share with you.

Thank you Swechha for spreading the joy of reading!

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.