MOP Chimbel…growing

Analysing our Chimbel Site data , we can see attendance of children in
batches and groups. It is all heartening and also a reminder that if
we were an organisation with reasonable funding, we could have
included home visits and community work to significantly sustain older
children in the library program.

Having said that I am witnessing such a powerful impact on some of our
regular committed children that I am humbled and grateful in the same
breath.

These transformations are not easy to spot if you are new to the site
and the work we do. But to those of us who have been here long enough
we can feel it. This is why I love the fact that Megha has been my
partner on the site. She is intuitive, sensitive, notices the details
and gets deeply involved. The children pick that vibe and interact so
honestly it is powerful. We can both turn to each other when Tanveer
won’t leave and circles us like a wolf in a pack. This boy would
hardly communicate , he was beligerent, and noncooperative, now he
nurtures us.

Today was special for a multitude of reasons. Firstly because my
planning around Ponni The Flower seller a small book from Tara was the
hit I anticipated it to be! We had 3 children whose ‘mama’ is a flower
seller and how much they knew about flowers ! Now, we know.  We learnt
about work in the home and it was shared openly and with grace because
that is the climate Megha and I have been working hard to create. It
is now expected and the children have absorbed it.

I heard one child say thank you to another and the first reply, “you
are welcome,” all behind my back! Nothing makes me happier than the
fact that this is our group from whose mouths bad words and whose
hands hitting comes naturally. Somehow the library time has become a
non violent space in large measure.

We played a fairly active game of picking up ‘items’ connected to
work, pitting one team against the other and it was played fairly and
in the true spirit of the game. I even saw the opposite team cheer for
the other, unconditionally.

We have older siblings bringing in younger siblings to join the
program. Nurturing them towards the procedures, the books and the
participation.

Those who have stayed with the program make me joyful, I can see the
shift in reading, in the book choice, in their language and their
approach to learning and for that alone our impact and our need to
keep MOP alive is sufficient reason to return. Until next time, then.