January 11, Lahore
The word has spread out—about our little library project. The kids are gossiping about the man who is teaching magic. A little group of kids from the neighbourhood, one of whom attended the workshop came today to Naveen, the headmistress, and asked if they could also do more workhsops. Naveen told them they could make stories any time—all the time! They asked if she would promise to include them in the library. They could tell her the stories now. She promised and then listened to their stories…10 in all. Something about the revenge of a murdered child. She told me that she was a bit taken aback by the violent scenes (anything new?). And she promised them their books would be in the library. The one kid who had attended the workshop knew how to fold the origami book—he showed everyone.
On an operational note, I was struggling with the idea of either working with a few schools and doing multiple sessions versus including as many kids and schools as we could manage. I'm a greedy one—so I opted for the later though its obvious—the repeated exposure in this one school is creating a feeling of ownership, pride and perhaps even can lead to what one would say “sustainability”. The kids are starting to get more deep. For one I'am amazed at how long they can sit in focused concentration when they are making art. Our last session was three hours. They seem excited about whatever is happening—and there are no phones involved!