Education Pakistan Project #51529

Camel Libraries - Girls Reading to Succeed

by Alif Laila Book Bus Society

Camel Libraries - Girls Reading to Succeed

Project Report | Mar 7, 2023
The caravan going strong!

By Amna Hassan | CEO

With a fleet of eight camel libraries, we are moving forward towards launching new camel libraries in Pakistan. We have an intrinsic demand of more camel libraries and with your support we are hoping to set up and support more libraries this year.

There is an update with our existing libraries, those who we have supported for two years, we are tying them up with local government and non-profit organisations to strengthen their ground and sustain them. This way we can move forward in providing more camel libraries and meet our goal of dotting the map of Pakistan with children’s libraries.

One beautiful comment from a girl beneficiary last month was, “I love the camel library, I keep waiting for it. It brings me colourful books. When I read them and later share with my siblings, we enjoy a lot. I want to see more books in it.” Where another little boy added, “I love running to the camel library with my friends when we hear chacha’s (camel herder’s) voice in the area. We run, take out books and read aloud. We love pretending like story characters when we play as well.”

Camel libraries are a source of pure joy to children and we really are thankful to our donors for bringing books where there are none.

We are also starting the school enrolment campaign through our camel libraries where we will encourage all children who are ready with basic literacy skills through camel libraries to join nearby government schools. Though our camels we are focusing on early education and basic literacy skills as well while working on children’s reading levels.

Early education, which refers to educational programs for children from birth to age 8, has been shown to provide numerous benefits for children, families, and communities. Some of the key benefits of early education include:

Cognitive development: Early education helps children develop cognitive skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and language development. Studies have shown that children who attend high-quality early education programs perform better in school and have higher academic achievement later in life.
Socialization: Early education provides children with opportunities to interact with peers and adults, learn social skills, and develop emotional intelligence. This can help children build positive relationships and adapt to new environments.
School readiness: Early education can help prepare children for the transition to formal schooling by introducing them to routines, structure, and academic concepts.
Health and well-being: Early education can promote healthy habits such as regular exercise, proper nutrition, and good hygiene. It can also help identify and address health concerns early on.
Economic benefits: High-quality early education can have long-term economic benefits for individuals and society. Studies have shown that children who attend early education programs are more likely to graduate from high school, attend college, and earn higher salaries as adults. This can lead to reduced reliance on social welfare programs and increased tax revenue for communities.

Overall, early education is an important investment in children's futures and can have long-lasting benefits for individuals and society and our camel libraries are helping us contribute towards that as well.

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Nov 8, 2022
Camel caravan during floods across Pakistan!

By Amna Hassan | CEO

Camel Libraries provide a place for rural or remote communities to gather. Children enjoy coming together to commune. By acting as a place for human connection, camel libraries provide a space forchildren/young girls to connect with each other, share stories, and be a social gathering place. This was especially important during the flood emergency, where the opportunity for emotional therapy was limited.

The catastrophic floods affecting 60% of the country has left over 1200 dead and 2000 injured where Sindh and Baluchistan were affected the most. With 325,000 houses destroyed, 735,000 livestock lost, 2 million acres of crop affected and 33 million Pakistani's suffering; this disaster has been termed as the worst in the country's history.

During this time, it has been challenging to run the projects smoothly specially in flood affected areas but we were able to continue this beautiful work with the help of our amazing implementation partners. The camel caravan visited 29 villages, benefitting 10,000+ beneficiaries (60% girls and 40% boys) in Sindh and Balochistan during last three months.

To enhance our work further, we plan on providing training to all the facilitators of the camel libraries on the environment and climate change, arts and craft, local craft and improving comprehension through reading. It was postponed due to floods emergency in Pakistan and further scheduled in December/January 2022-2023. For an organization to be effective and able to deliver its intended outcomes, its workforce needs to be skilled, competent and confident. In addition, the nature of libraries, across all sectors, means that they are subject to continual change, especially in today’s digital information environment. Similarly, the political and economic environments in which the libraries operate means that we need to be flexible, agile and continually evolving. In order for a library to embrace change, its workforce must continually develop its professional and technical skills. We will continue to develop those to make our Programme more relevant and tuned in to the needs of the areas where it operates.

With your kind support we are in the process of planning and developing three more camel libraries that will be running soon.

A big thank you to all our generous donors for helping us to take books where there were none and making tomorrow brighter and better for the children of Pakistan.

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Jul 11, 2022
Camel Libraries Progress Report

By Amna Hassan | Programmes Manager

The first Camel Library was founded in 2020 during the pandemic; it was named Roshan, and located in Mand, Kech, Balochistan. This was followed by six more camel libraries which were launched in 2021 in different areas of Balochistan and Sindh, namely, Aman (Mithipur Sindh), Raunaq (Gwadar to Khuzdar, Balochistan), Chirag (Gwadar, Balochistan), Khushi (Barkhaan, Balochistan), Umeed (Kohlu, Balochistan), Mashal (Loralai Balochistan to M. Amin Shar Village - Sindh). In 2022, one more camel, Estaal, joined the caravan in Passo – Gwadar, Balochistan.

For this project, a total of 700 books were sent to each library, along with rugs, cushions, puppet theatre and puppets. After raising funds, two of these camels were also given a Tech Bag which included tablets and their solar panel batteries through which Audio/Visual Aids could easily be accessed.

In the past three months, our camel Estaal has traveled into three or four different villages every week. In most of these regions, the children don't even know what a library is and have never read any sort of book. These camel libraries serve the purpose of providing these children with books, some of the stories are read out aloud to them. They are further tested on critical thinking and Reading Level Assessments are conducted to check whether the child is at a Beginner, Letter, Word, Sentence or a Story level.
Reading ignites creativity, sparks curiosity, and stimulates the imagination in young children. Often, this leads to role-play as children grow older, which helps to develop other skills such as empathy, problem-solving, and strong values.Through our camel libraries we are promoting early literacy skills which means helping children develop a rich vocabulary, self-expression, and reading comprehension—tools they need to become successful readers and lifelong learners.

To enhance our work further, we plan on providing training to all the facilitators of the camel libraries on the environment and climate change, arts and craft, local craft and improving comprehension through reading. For an organization to be effective and able to deliver its intended outcomes, its workforce needs to be skilled, competent and confident. In addition, the nature of libraries, across all sectors, means that they are subject to continual change, especially in today’s digital information environment. Similarly, the political and economic environments in which the libraries operate means that we need to be flexible, agile and continually evolving. In order for a library to embrace change, its workforce must continually develop its professional and technical skills. We will continue to develop those to make our Programme more relevant and tuned in to the needs of the areas where it operates.

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