PPES’ library has an all new face!

The Library Now!!

It can easily be awarded as one of the most famous sites with its students. Students throng at the library whenever they get a chance other than their designated library hrs (One class per week).

The library is a store house of about 735 English and 235 Hindi books, with a few that are bilingual. They stand neatly stacked in purple, yellow, green and blue book shelves. The books are on different genres from story books on favorite cartoon characters to encyclopedias. We’ll soon have books in Urdu as well for students who learn Urdu language at school. Students identify with it as a personal space that they get to explore each moment they spend there. They discover and read books on their own or choose one for our librarian to read aloud.

It is very rewarding to see the students rushing to the shelves to choose books they want. They are eager to read and read more!

However, the library wasn’t the same a few months ago. It has recently been expanded and renovated. Earlier it used to be a tiny room with just 30 books on one book shelf. Now, it is a large spacious hall. There is also a computer to keep track of catalogue and check out books taken by students to home. The library just got a conference table that is used for reading the newspapers and magazines. It has a colorful cabinet of board games that girls love to play during breaks.
The Library then!

Jacobi Wade, the volunteer from Florida, USA has been the face behind the new library. She joined PPES in 2008 and took up the task of organizing the then small library.. Since then we have been receiving several donations of books, DVDs and games which made our library grow bigger.

The Volunteer Jacobi!

Another volunteer Lindsay from Tennessee, USA has been associated with PPES since January 2009. Her ideas contributed amazingly to making the library a colorful and vibrant space with the students. She also teaches English to the girls. Every day, girls in groups of 8-10 surround her in the library and start their lessons.

When you go there, you’ll realize just how much energy is dispersed around the hall. You’ll see girls who are quietly reading a magazine (Yes! there are so many magazines on famous women too) or revising for a test. Little ones form a small group and play scrabbles, Pictionary and other board games. If you are someone who is strolling around the library, this group will always invite you to join them. That’s just how amazingly gregarious they are.

Our Girls enjoy reading so much. Isn't it!

The library also houses sessions of storytelling with the little ones. They listen to stories of the ‘Lion King’, ‘Nemo’ and other characters and then come up with names for their pets. On one of the storytelling sessions, they wanted to give their fish (from one of the stories) the name of their English teacher. Upon asking, they said that the teacher is one of their favorites and not the other way around. The library is a cauldron of activities that allow children to live their childhood like a child.

Soni, a PPES graduate is the in charge of the library. Not only does she takes care of the books and feeds data on the computer but also guides little girls as to which book to read and take home.

We are now studying a yearly budget to make the library grow bigger next year: more shelves for more books and a cozy reading area with cushions.

The PPES library is a little world of colors and adventure to our girls……….

Come share a lesson with them some day!