Kabul’s blue bus brings children joy of reading

KABUL: The children of Kabul rush towards the blue bus every time it pulls into their street, eager to come on board.

But it’s no ordinary bus. Its a library on wheels – the first in Afghanistan’s war-battered capital.

Inside are rows of neatly stacked books for children, hundreds in both Dari and Pashto, the two main languages. And small tables and stools to sit on as they discover the joys of reading.

From sunrise to sunset, the bus drives around Kabul’s neighbourhoods, stopping in each place for a couple of hours at a time.

The library was the initiative of Freshta Karim, a 25-year-old who recently got a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Oxford, England. She wanted to give Kabul’s children something badly missing in her own childhood – the chance to widen one’s horizons, free of the shadow of war and poverty.

Two weeks into the project, she was thrilled by the chil- dren’s fondness for the bus.

“We were not expecting so much love from the people and such acceptance, I am so amazed,” she said.

Karim said few people her age remembered going to libraries as kids, the war had deprived them of so much. According to Save the Children, nearly a third of all Afghan children are unable to attend school.

“Many schools even don’t have buildings,” Karim said. “Talking about a library is a luxury.”

On a recent day in her western Kabul neighbourhood of Kart-e-Char, 11-year-old Marwa could hardly wait for the bus to turn the corner of the road so she could see it, run and jump in, and start reading.

“The first day I came on the bus, I was so happy that I didn’t want to leave and go home,” Marwa said.

The bus, decorated with paintings to appeal to the young ones, was provided by the transportation ministry. All the books have been donated by different organisations. The donations also pay for the fuel.

University student Siyam Barakati, 21, is one of the five-member team on the bus. He is the story-teller and his job is to read to the smaller children who cannot yet read.

For 10- year- old Sameer, books are his new friends and a source of knowledge to pass on.

“I read a book here and learn something from it,” he said. “Then I go home and tell the story to my sisters and I get to learn more.” – AP/African News Agency (ANA)