Author Katie Waldegrave helped street children write stories and get it published in a book called Chocolate Biscuit Stories which was launched at Oxford Bookstore. She shares with Arjita Mishra that she believes that reading and writing can bring change and make a person a better human being
You might never ever think, not even for a second, that the children who live on the streets or who sell flowers, snacks and knick-knacks at traffic crossings can write, let alone get it published in a book. To us, they look as people who are incapable of anything but Katie Waldegrave, saw different. Not only did she see potential in them but also gave them a chance to get their stories and articles published. In a way, she has managed to change our mindset.
An author from the UK, Waldegrave helped and encouraged the street children to learn English and then write their thoughts. She told us, “I am a writer by profession but before that I am a teacher. So, this initiative came out of my passion and my keen interest in the cause of educating children.”
Back home, she runs an NGO called First Story, where she picks up children from the streets and help them with their studies. She believes that reading and writing can only bring a change and make a person a better human being.
In fact, she encouraged children, living in an NGO called Tara Homes, to write their thoughts and imaginations. She told us that there are three separate homes at the NGO — one for boys, one for girls and one for tots. Every home shelters 20 children. They live together in harmony, receive quality education, security, complete health care and an opportunity to carve a bright future.
Waldegrave is an optimist. She believes that there is dignity and power in every young person’s story and that is the reason why she encourages street students to get education and write small articles. “If they start writing small articles when they are young, who knows, one of them can actually be inspired to grow up and become a famous author,” she smiled.
Waldegrave shared her experience of working with the children and said that when they started to work on this project, they faced some problems as English was not their language but learned quickly. She said, “Yes, it was a challenging time for them but they wrote well. They got really engaged with the idea and I am really proud of them.” She also shared that few of the children’s English was really good and with few, she had to work hard.
As part of their training, Waldegrave engaged the children in different exercises, before they started writing the book. The aim of the project was to keep the things simple so they just structured their work and let their imaginations flow.
It took her eight to nine months for the author to train the kids. There was no selection process involved as all of them live at the same place and had already written articles.
The months of works has ultimately culminated in a wonderful book called Chocolate Biscuit stories and it consists of short stories, poetry and autobiographical pieces. “I have written stories like the Magic Girl, How to Make Pascal Sir Happy and Manoj, which is my autobiography,” said Manoj who studies in sixth standard in Sarvodaya Vidyalaya. The sheer happiness of doing something as good as this could be seen easily on his face.
Mohit, who studies in fourth standard in Blue bell school, said, “I have written about my hopes and my childhood memories and some of the incidents of my life in the book.” He said that at this moment of his life he is feeling nervous but at same time he is happy that this project happened to him. “When I joined Tara organisation, I was a bit afraid because that was for the first time when I have seen any white men in my life but soon I became comfortable with them and also with other children,” he added his experience of joining the NGO.
The stories and articles written by the children contain their dreams and thoughts. Some of the contents of the book are stories like Flying Boys written by Vinay and Greedy King written by Rashid. Another child, Shyamu, has written about How to make a Sunset while Sameer has penned his dream of turning all vegetables into chocolates.
The work started by the author Waldegrave is really commendable. With her initiative, the street children can start a better livelihood and get a respectful life.