The Gyan Azhar Library, Kolkata

The Gyan Azhar library is a safe haven for girls from Kolkata's Darapara slum.  They typically live with their large families in single rooms of about 8ft by 10ft.  Over the past 9 years the Gyan Azhar library has provided them with a safe space in which to study, to use the computers and to socialise. Thanks to the library many have been able to concentrate on their studies and go on to complete their school and college education, something very rare in these very poor traditional communities.

Sean is a prisoner.  He organised a fundraising static row in the prison in April this year top raise funds for the Gyan Azhar Library.  Thanks to Sean and the other prisoners and to all of you who were inspred by them to donate to the library, an amazing £2182 has been raised to help provide books, games and other equipment for the library.

Sean and the other prisoners and staff were inspired by local resident Helen, the prison librarian. Helen has worked at The Mount for 18 years, providing educational support to prisoners and guiding them through Open University degrees as well as encouraging recreational reading. Helen went to India on holiday in January this year and visited the library run by NGO, Tiljala SHED. She met some of the 700 girls who use the library and was invited into some of their homes in the slum afterwards.

Helen says, “In January this year I was privileged to visit a pretty amazing library.  The Gyan Azhar library was set up in 2008 in one of the poorest slums in Kolkata by a local charity, Tiljala SHED, to provide a safe place for girls to go to study, borrow books, use computers, take part in activities such as health education and crafts and to meet their friends.  One of the charity's main aims is to help girls to stay in education to give themselves the best chance of avoiding a life of extreme poverty and early marriage.  With a good education girls can gain financial independence and support themselves and their families and the library plays a big part in this.

 The girls I met at Gyan Azhar were so proud of their library and really enjoyed showing me around.  It's not big by any means - the library is in a room measuring about 12 feet square - but it has 700 members from the ages of five to twenty!  The library is desperately short of books, computers and craft materials and I came back from my trip determined to raise some money to buy some more. 

The girls in the slum are trapped in poverty, living in rooms no bigger than a typical prison cell, often with five or six family members. Like the prisoners at The Mount, the girls know that education and skills are their best hope of a better life.  I was amazed when Sean said he wanted to organise this fundraiser: I was only telling them about my holiday.  As manager of the library at the Mount I know what a difference libraries can make. As well as being vital for learning, books can offer a real release from the problems of everyday life.  We can all escape with a book!”

The funds the prisoners raise will be used to supply books, computers and craft materials for girls to use when they visit the library.  Thank you for your very generous donations.