Six years ago, Bookworm started its Libraries in Schools (LiS) program in the lovely, not-so-quaint-anymore village of Aldona, in North Goa. This was due to the efforts of Dr. Mrs. Aurora Couto who wanted to keep alive the ideals of her late husband, Alban Couto. At that time, we started in only two schools of Aldona. Today, we are no longer part of one of those initial schools, but we continue to make a difference in the lives of the children in Aldona and the neighboring village of Corjuem and Pomburpa.
The LiS team meets every Monday to talk about the week just ended and to plan things for the week ahead. Since I have been with the program the longest – from the Aldona team – I have been a part of every compulsory meeting, in Panjim. The Aldona team has changed over the past six years and not every member of this team has been able to attend regularly. Thankfully, this was accepted by the rest of the LiS team.
Last year in August 2017, Bookworm took another step into the community of Aldona – we set up a Book Stop – an unlocked and free-of-charge, library box in the market-place, open to anyone who wanted to borrow books. No one monitored the borrowing and returning – which resulted in some books disappearing and religious periodicals appearing. The Team spends a little time every few months clearing out the torn and unwanted books and are always happy to note that some people are returning the books borrowed, adding books to the collection and/or spending time arranging the shelves.
A year later, in August 2018, Bookworm opened the Alban Couto Community Library (ACCL). This Library is open between 4 pm and 6 pm on all weekdays except public holidays. Sujata felt that since all the members of the Aldona team do not attend the LiS meetings regularly in Panjim, the rest of the LiS team would come to Aldona at least twice a year, for a meeting which would be held in the ACCL.
And so, on the 1st of October, the Panjim section of the LiS team reached Aldona at 10 am and we conducted proceedings as usual. We had group discussions as well as expressed individual opinions. The main topic under discussion for that meeting was the introduction of books on reproduction and sexuality, to children in our schools. This was the result of a teacher in one of our schools, confiscating a book borrowed by a child from class 3 – Mummy Laid an Egg by Babette Cole.
It was a nice experience for the four of us on the Aldona team, to be able to meet everyone without travelling out of Aldona. For the first time, I was on the ‘hosting’ team – we ensured the floor was uncluttered – boxes of books have been donated to the ACCL and these were in the process of being prepared for the shelves. People passing the Library, during the meeting, wondered what was going on – they had probably not seen such an animated, non-political crowd.
We look forward to the next LiS meeting in the ACCL and the growth of the library program in Aldona.