Bringing a Writer and His Readers Together
A phenomenal story was widely shared on social media some time back about Mohammad Momin Uddin, a CNG auto-rickshaw driver and a father of two children, who wrote and published an English learning book in Bangla for students of Grade I to X. Mr Momin hopes to get children of the underserved sectors involved in the process of reading, promote childhood literacy, and encourage children to give back to their community. On February 21, 2018, the Lalbagh No. 2 Shorkari Prathomik Biddaloy arranged a book fair. There was an aura of joy and laughter at the programme that was hard to miss. Mr Momin spoke about and distributed his book to the school's children as part of the programme. He says, "I am an SSC pass myself, and I was not fortunate enough to continue my studies further. However, my dream was to help underprivileged children who are neglected by their parents and I noticed that most of these children quit their schooling due to their fear of English." After some immense struggles, six years of research, and resistance from his own family, he finally published his own book, but, found it difficult to sell it. Maisha Meem Noor, an English major from IUB who rode Mr Momin's CNG auto-rickshaw one day, was really touched by what he did. So, she shed light on his endeavor through a Facebook post.
Grow Your Reader, an organisation that works as a "book bank" for underprivileged children, providing them access to different books outside of their regular curriculum, took particular interest in the story. They reached out to Mr Momin to help him bring out his book to the rightful audience. "We already have eight stations and over two thousand books throughout Dhaka, and we were very inspired by what Mr Momin was hoping to do despite his financial limitations," says Amina Azad, Co- Founder of Grow Your Reader. The team of Grow Your Reader was also present at Lalbagh No. 2 Shorkari Prathomik Biddaloy's book fair. The organisation bought thirty books from Mr Momin to distribute them to students at Lalbagh and Gawair Nabin Primary School, one of the schools they are affiliated with. Amongst the enjoyment, the children who were a part of the book fair found a heartfelt appreciation for the man who made such an inspiring effort to educate them and their peers without thinking about his own hardships.
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