Storytelling for Change

The cycle and vast scope of poverty in India are daunting challenges and uncomfortable subjects. Visitors, including myself, struggle to find an appropriate box in our minds in which to categorize the realities we witness on the ground. We read that nearly 80 percent of Indians, or 836 million people, live on less than 50 cents a day (equivalent to about 2 dollars a day in terms of cost of living) — and this from an Indian government report. We cringe, and move to the next headline. We look out the window of our passing car at the street children selling magazines and trinkets and returning to the road divider every few minutes to check on their baby siblings, we see the elderly suffering from leprosy moving from car to car, person to person, rattling a can, and as we make eye contact, we quickly shift our gaze. We feel guilt, sadness, sympathy, frustration, disgust, anger, and more, and we feel helpless. We often maintain stoic faces when faced with someone begging, or we attempt to make a small difference in their day by emptying our pockets of change. Few of us feel empowered to do much more. Last week, I encountered and joined a group that is doing much, much more.

Katha is a local NGO that works to alleviate poverty through an unusual medium: storytelling. Working broadly in the areas of language, culture and translation, Katha-ites are “publishers, teachers, and agents of change” who use stories to increase the accessibility of education to the under-privileged. Katha’s publishing house is based in South Delhi, and is well-known amongst enthusiastic readers for its collection of children’s books, most of which are available in both English and in Hindi (and all of which are beautifully illustrated), as well as for its novels. The concept of engaging new readers and students, regardless of their age, through folkloric stories and cultural familiarity is, in my opinion, brilliant.

Katha’s educational arm has currently enrolled over 6000 children in more than 50 schools and learning centers across India, the majority of which are in and around Delhi. Demonstrating an understanding of that complicated cycle of poverty I referred to earlier, the organization has made some small adjustments to their scope to accommodate a target community. For example, Katha centers have preschools and daycare centers for little ones so that older boys and girls can go to school instead of caring for their baby siblings; some of their schools have adult training and vocational courses with schedules that are more convenient to daily wage earners; and Katha has recently launched an adult English Academy, recognizing that a basic mastery of English will improve economic opportunities for the local residents.

Last week I visited Kathashala, one of Katha’s learning centers in the Govindpuri slum in East Delhi. The sense of excitement to learn and teach, to impart knowledge and effect change permeates every corner of the small brick complex. From the guard at the gate to the carpentry instructor, the class full of 8 year olds who jump up from the floor to recite “Good morning Ma’am!” the minute we walk in the door to the Director who shares her passion for the Katha way of teaching with every listening ear, I could feel the energy and enthusiasm.

If you can’t already tell, I’m looking forward to contributing whatever I can to Katha’s mission in the next few months. In other words, you’ll be hearing more about my adventures with Katha in the days to come!