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Feb. 22, 2013
Providing books for readers
Palestinian writers group plans to use taxis as a delivery mode.
DIANA ATALLAH THE MEDIA LINE
Ramallah
Palestinian passengers will be more tempted to read books after a new reading campaign is launched. A group of young writers is gathering books to put in mini-vans linking major cities in the West Bank, routes that can waste hours.
Wiam Karyouti, a sales employee and a young writer, first thought of the campaign when a passenger next to him asked him if he had another book for him to read. “I usually read in the taxi and carry books with me. I handed him a novel and he gave it back to me at the end of the ride saying he would go buy it,” Karyouti said in an interview.
The incident triggered Karyouti to think of ways to encourage reading and use the spare taxi time. He found that taxi drivers welcomed the initiative of putting books in their orange-painted service cars, which take up to seven passengers.
Karyouti and his colleagues at a young writers club called Bastet Ibda (Creativity Peddlers) volunteered to make the idea a reality and advertised for the campaign through their Facebook pages. Since their announcement on Dec. 26, they have received at least 600 books, donated by nongovernmental organizations, publishing houses and individuals who came to the collecting points in different West Bank cities. Once the collecting is complete, seven or eight books will be available in a cloth bag near each driver in 311 taxis for passengers to read.
“The topics range from religion, science, history and arts, to novels and children’s books, because we think that parents might travel with their kids,” Karyouti said. “We still need another 600 books, but we won’t distribute all of them at once. We plan to periodically renew [the] books in taxis.”
Intellectuals and young writers agree that reading is not very popular among Palestinians and think that the education system and the lack of government support has played a role in pushing people away from reading.
“I see the same groups of people in book readings,” said Karyouti, who hopes that when he publishes his first poetry book, he will be able to rely on friends to encourage their connections to read it.
Abd El Salam Khaddash, the reading campaigns manager at Tamer Community Education Institute, told this reporter that the Palestinian curriculum doesn’t make students thirsty for knowledge and learning. He said that the curriculum depends on memorizing books by heart, and doesn’t encourage creative thinking.
The Tamer institute has championed reading campaigns for the past 20 years, focusing on a different topic each year. Last year, their “Father: Read for Me” campaign events included distributing children’s books in dentists’ waiting rooms.
Although Ramallah’s public library, not far from the city centre, has more than 40,000 books in different topics and languages, it only served around 7,000 of the city’s 30,000 inhabitants during 2012. Around 300,000 people live within the borders of the governorate of Ramallah and Al Bireh and neighboring villages.
“A few visitors come for the sake of reading ... we have housewives, workers and retired people who come to read for fun. Students visit because they are required to study and read for their research papers,” explained library supervisor Ruba Husseini.
In 2012, around 1,000 books were loaned to the library’s subscribers, who pay an annual fee that doesn’t exceed $10. Using the library is free of charge unless photocopying is needed.
Khaddash thinks that reading has become less of a priority these days. “I was a student in the eighties and people were eager to know what would happen next with their lives, especially politically,” he said.
Tamer works with 75 libraries in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and around 50 public schools libraries to encourage reading. “We think that the librarians can play a part in encouraging learning and education but their salaries are too low and some work as volunteers,” Khaddash said.
He added that there is another problem with libraries. Some community libraries are the first facilities to be affected when the local municipalities face financial difficulties. Also, the absence of specific reading classes in many schools, or the use of reading class for studying for other exams, makes school libraries less useful to students.
Hala Kaileh, the manager of a libraries enhancement project in Ramallah, said that the municipality is working to develop reading in Palestinian society. The municipality has set up a new children’s library to help make reading a habit for children. The “content of books is important but the library looking good is important to attract visitors, and we’re working on developing the children’s library and including a film room as well,” Kaileh said.
Karyouti is not worried if people decide to borrow for an extended time or even keep for themselves the books they read in the taxis. “If I win a reader, I wouldn’t mind losing a book,” he cheerfully told this reporter.
Khaddash said he is optimistic. “I interview hundreds of people for jobs, and I care less for their university marks. Now, parents care more for their children to be educated rather than being at the top of their class,” he said, adding that it’s not important that readers increase by a thousand, but rather to broaden the idea into a general acceptance of the importance of education and reading in life.
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