Along with winter come two things – school starts later than usual, and we have daylight for fewer hours! Because of this, attendance in the library has been low and so has the number of activities we conducted this quarter. It was still a mix of exciting experiences for both learning and fun! 

We had a lot of visitors…

The library was lucky to receive surprise visits from some very interesting people who shared their experiences with the children. On 12th October, Shri Dinesh Rastogi, an eminent educationalist from Bhimtal spent a few hours with the children, telling them of his travel from Canada and teaching them a few tricks in Maths.   
On 9^th November, celebrated author Mr. Anil Yadav and journalist Mr. Rohit Joshi shared their life experiences and work with the children. Since both are travel writers, their trip came at an opportune moment – just a few days before the much-awaited Agra/Mathura exposure trip.

And special guests!

We received a few requests for internships during the Diwali break and offered a one-month internship to Veronica, a master’s student from TISS Mumbai. She focused on English conversation and grammar with the younger children and taught them various action songs. She also conducted case studies on the impact of the library activities in Seem, Dhon and Byasi, which will help us in designing future initiatives for the area.

In her own words:

“Happy Childrens’ Library will always be close to my heart, especially the children. It is one of those places that I would love to keep returning to, and I even intend to. To sum up the experience I had in the library in a sentence, I’d like to quote a message I had sent to my friend when she had asked me how I had liked the place:

“The place is cold, but the people are warm”.

Read more about Veronica’s experience, here!

We celebrated Diwali! 
Diwali celebrations were held on 26^th October with a host of fun and games. Here are the happy faces of a happy library on a very special day:

Library Outreach in Champawat 

As part of our continuing outreach, we received a request for assistance for setting up a library from Sanjay Joshi Memorial School, Devidhura in Champawat District. An assessment visit to the school was made on 2nd November. We interacted with the management staff and conducted a storytelling session with the children. Angelique Foundation has agreed to provide the books for setting up a library there, so very soon the children of Devidhura will have lots of stories to read and share!

Exposure visit to Agra/Mathura – The highlight of the quarter was our much-awaited trip to Agra from 12th to 16th November. A very dear fauji friend offered to host a group of children to visit Agra and Mathura and also see the army establishments there as a motivational exercise.  After much planning, 28 senior girls, boys and 5 chaperones set out for a trip that would have many firsts. From leaving their families and travelling by train, getting a first-hand experience of disciplined army life and of course, visiting one of the seven wonders of the world to travelling back by luxury bus – the visit to Agra, Mathura and Vrindavan gave everyone many fond memories to take back! 

We would like to express our gratitude and a big thank you to the team at Agra who made this trip so memorable.

Visit to Himjyoti Vocational Training Institute, Dehradun

We visited Dehradun on 24th and 25th  November to meet with the teachers and the 6 girls from Seem/Dhon, who were undergoing training there. It was a pleasure to see our girls confidently pursuing their courses and participating in all the activities with full josh!

All 6 of the girls are now back home after completing their courses, and we are now gearing up to help find them internships and jobs locally.

Letters to Santa

This year, the festival was celebrated on 22nd December. In addition to the celebrations, the children wrote letters to Santa where they asked for the things they wanted the most – read on!

Santa Claus, I want two gifts from you. A nice dress for me and food for poor people.

Priya, Class 6

Dear Santa, in our school GIC Garjoli, children come from far away. Because they get tired, they faint in the assembly and miss their studies. So please give 3 school buses to our school, so that children don’t faint because of tiredness.

Harshit, Class 8

Santa, please let there be libraries in other villages, just like in our village.

Urvashi, Class 11

Santa Claus, I wish for a school for my village, which should be upto 12th class so that we can study here only and study well and think about our future.

Sakshi, Class 11

I wish you give me a smartphone, an Apple laptop, a big house, a Baleno or Ferrari. This time, I want only these things.

Gaurav, Class 8

Ready, get set, 2020: Launching the HCL Fellowship Program

We are planning for an activity-filled 2020 with the HCL Fellowship Program! We hope to host many more people such as Veronica in the future, and to make this a regular feature at the library, we are starting a Fellowship Program for people with experience working with children and teaching, who would like to work with us for 6 months. 

Read more about the HCL Fellowship Program, here!

So, here’s wishing you all a very Happy New Year and a big thank you from all of us at Happy Children’s Library for adding to our happiness in every possible way!!