LAP Conference - Literature: a survival kit

LITERATURE - A SURVIVAL KIT

BEACONHOUSE DEFENCE CAMPUS - KARACHI

What inspired the student to initiate this project?

Ever since I could remember, I have been an avid reader. Once I discovered fiction and its diverse genres, they fell in line with my passion. I could look up a topic that inspired me and used to get lost, reading for hours.

It wasn’t long after, around the age of 10, that I started to gain new perspectives, ideas, and opinions of my own that I wanted to share with others. So I started to write!

I wrote about what I thought and felt about the world around me. I wrote poems, that allowed my thoughts to spill out of a pen onto my little scrapbook.

When I was 13 my book " My Little Pen Scribbles" was published and I got the honor to launch my book in the 60th CHILDREN'S LITERATURE FESTIVAL KARACHI. After that, there is no turning back. I have been volunteering in SIMS School Majeed Keerio (a project of Imdad Foundation) since 2017. When the students of this charity school came to know of my venture, several of them stood up to show their talents in literature too. They informed me that I was a source of inspiration for them and in that one moment I realized that literature is so much more than just prose and rhyme. It is a means of expression for people belonging to every background and community. And now I aim to encourage youth to come forward and use their writing skills to share their thoughts and reach out to the world.

A Summary Highlighting the Process.

I shared my vision, “to foster the youth into creating meaningful literary pieces that can bring an impactful change in our society”, with my teachers and heads, and requested them to facilitate me in achieving my goals. I wanted to form a Literature Club with like-minded people to join me in finding the Budding Talent and unlock their potential by gaining hands-on experience and meeting experts.

So we announced a Play and started auditioning for it. The play was written by a literature club member, Ms. Umama Burney, an excellent writer. The play focused on “individualism” in which well-known literary characters were accused of being different from the tribe and how they believed that no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning oneself.

We also invited Miss Seema Mubeen, the play writer who narrated her journey in the field of the playwriting world, and shared some valuable tips for those who aim to pursue this field in the future. Indeed it was an insightful step towards my goal.

The next step was to reach the extended community. We went to The Citizen Foundation school at Korangai and met peer groups to question them about their aspiration towards reading and writing. To our surprise, many read Urdu afsanas and were able to share creative ideas. We offered them to send us their writing pieces to us. We plan to select the best ones to be published with our compilation as “DC LITERARY SCRAPBOOK”.

It's a year-long process and I aim to reach out to more students belonging to a diverse socio-economic backgrounds and encourage them to write to raise their voices.

Auditions for the Literature Club Play

Steps Towards Creating a Team of Literature Enthusiast

Literature Club Event

The event was planned and executed by the members of the literature club, headed by Zainab Rashid. Young literature enthusiasts prep 'INTERVENTION'_ A play hosted by the Literature Club, headed by Zainab Rashid and written by Umamah Burney. Followed by a talk session by a renowned playwriter Ms. Seema Mubeen

How will this project make a difference?

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” –

Toni Morrison

I believe that writing has the power to change your life and the lives of others. Your writing skills will impact what college you go to, what career you chose to pursue, and how much of an impact you can have on the world. Writing provides a way to express what you love and what excites you. It is a way to escape and create the world the way you would like it to be.

I have realized people believe the things they read, and so it becomes necessary for the young generation that we put down our ideas, whether in a blog or our school magazine or has a published book of our own.

Writing Workshop at The Citizen Foundation (TCF) School

The literature club conducted a workshop on how to write fiction. A step-by-step process including some creative ideas was shared by the team members. It was highly appreciated by students and teachers at The Citizen Foundation School.

Success Story

We found a budding talent in TCF school. She narrated a story that she wrote herself.

Key Takeaways of the Project

I plan to take my passion for writing and promoting literature to new levels and aspire to reach the wider community. By far from this project I have earned:

New Friends

Our literature club members were all strangers to each other when we started auditioning. Over the course of the project, we all became closer. In a way, the relationships we build over the course of a project and presenting it are the most valuable things we’ll gain.

New Knowledge

One of the most important takeaways from this project is new knowledge. I have realized that everyone has something to teach you, as long as you’re open to learning it.

A Sense of Accomplishment

Ever since I started working with like-minded peers I have had a significant sense of accomplishment. I can see that I can achieve what I am set out to do. Reaching out to underprivileged communities and getting an active response from them was our star achievement.

I have developed confidence that I might even consider being a mentor for young kids within my school and neighborhood.

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