Written by Melcom
When I joined bookworm, I was not perfect in my work. Indeed I used to make many mistakes in my work. I was really lost at times and not so disciplined in my work. But it is after meeting people like Sheena de Mello and Priya Naik at Bookworm, things began to work differently for me.
Sheena was my senior at a MOP session. I would consider her my “MOP role model”. She was very efficient, discipline, systematic and gentle and always straight with the children. In other words, she was a very, very hard working person that I ever came across. Very dedicated to her work. She is one the reason why I am so efficient at MOP sessions. She taught me how to communicate with the children, taught me to how to conduct a session, sometimes even encouraged me to write a piece about the session in a form of blog post. To be very honest, whenever she used to lead the session, I used to observe her very carefully, for instance, the way she greeted and spoke with the children, the way she narrated the story, the way she would be always humble and gentle with the children etc. The children too liked Sheena very much and still remember her at the sessions, one year after she has gone. I feel really sad that Sheena is no longer working at Bookworm anymore. But whatever I am at the MOP is because of her.
The second person who inspired me by her work was Priya Naik. She used to work on the Libraries in Schools ( LiS) program in schools and conduct LiS sessions at school. She was another very hard working person I met at Bookworm. For me she is my “Library Role Model”. She was super-efficient and dedicated at her work. Used to do her work in time, prep for the session in time, prepare for the session in time and never let any chaos bother her. Again, I have learnt so many things from her. The most important thing which I learned from her is to work in a calm and cool way. The reason I so calm at the work is because of her. The reason I am saying this because, initially when I started my journey with Bookworm, I was very disorganised and not such a calm person to work. I used to do my work in a very unpleasant manner and get bothered and upset by many things. It is only after seeing Priya Naik and her style of working, I was greatly inspired.
Another person use is currently my inspiration person is Deepali Pitre Correya. She is also a very hard working person and I am able to learn many things from her quiet efficiency. Deepali is very punctual in her work, always reports and fulfils all her tasks and I have never seen her bothered at work. My dream is to work like her and I will keep trying. March 8th was Woman’s Day. I missed that day, but I want to use the month to thank the strong mentor – women I have met at Bookworm who have taught me many things and many ways to work and I want them to know they are my inspiration.
Thank you Sheena de Mello and Priya Naik for being my inspiration, though we miss you very much.