A flutter of activity greets you at Bookworm each morning. The school team is getting ready to go school…..are the bags packed with everything we need? Have you gone through the session plan? Where is Stephie, she was supposed to be here at 9! Uday let’s go! This is how most day’s start for the team members who are part of the Bookworm Libraries-in-school Program (LiS).
As part of the Bookworm team, I often wondered what kept the team motivated, the simple joy’s that they experience and were there things that upset them from time to time.
Vandana and Sakshi, who have been a part of the LiS team for 5 years say that reading a story to the children and watching them listen attentively brings them much joy. Sakshi also likes to share her knowledge of the program with others. Both spoke about a time, when due to personal reasons felt they could not continue being a part of LiS. What kept them back I ask? They say that another team member would have to pick up from where they left and it would be difficult for them.
Returning to Bookworm this year is Melcom. Melcom is our in-house Zumba instructor and dance teacher. The children love his energetic dance steps and look forward to a Zumba and dance class with him. Melcom felt his love of teaching and being with children is the reason he loves working at Bookworm. During his time away from the Library, the one thing he dearly missed was being with children and telling them stories. Though not an avid reader, he says that he wants to fall in love with books once again.
A wake up call from Jewel each morning, gets Stephie out of bed and to Bookworm. Stephie’s journey to and from school, sees her discussing the plan for the class with fellow team members, sharing how a session went for them and how things can be done differently at the next class. Stephie feels one of her biggest learning’s in this process is following a system with thought which has become better with practise.
One of the most important person on the LiS team, is Uday – who drives our Bookworm car each day. Uday says he likes being part of the team and feels that the work we do makes children happy.
As each team member experiences anxiety and stress in some way or the other and handles it in her / his own way, one thing that bothers them is the difficulty in picking up the pieces when a team member leaves the program. What makes them carry on is that they love working with children, commitment to the program and strong team bonds.
Each day, Jewel, Stephie, Melcom, Vandana, Sakshi, Pranita, Uday and Terence take the joy of reading to eight schools in Goa. Strong, committed, hard working, funny and supportive of each other together makes this the Bookworm, Libraries in School Team.
