GIRLS IN LIBRARY AND MY DEAR NOVI SAD
We share the text from the blog of Lana Nikolić, a journalist at the radio station Radio Beograd 202 and participant in the 4thgeneration of the “Creative Mentorship” programme. The text was written after she had participated in the programme and workshop „I think about me, but not only of myself” that was organized by the City library in Novi Sad, and itwas a nice opportunity to collaborate with Milica Crkvenjakov, also participant in the 4thgeneration of the “Creative Mentorship” programme and Dragana Božić, who participated in the 3rdcycle of the programme.
What do our girls think about? What do they worry about? Are we there to support them and do we take them seriously? What does a library represent for them?
How often do we say to them:
You are kids, this too shall pass. Play. Don’t worry. You are so lucky to be just kids. Your worries are not the real ones. They are just kidding when they hurt you. Don’t think about it.
But they do think about it. They think a lot, seriously and deeply.
They love reading. I watched them borrowing books from library. They hug them, they smile. They enter a library and show so much respect for it.
I went to my Novi Sad to spend one magic afternoon, to be part of “Socializing in library” and workshop„I think about me, but not only of myself”, atthe City library in Novi Sad.
To speak about differences. To present myself through books. To share love with them towards reading. I came to feel that we are together and have each other.
“Why do you love reading?” I ask. They get serious, they start to think. We are surrounded by books. They describe. What they read, what touch them the most. We smile. We know the secret.
I was exactly the same when I was a little girl. Happy when I was allowed to take more than 10 books. I walked between shelves, I looked for my book. For the book that was written only for me.
I found a lot of them.
They do the same. They fill my heart with love and hope. We are here, and we will be: we, who carry the books everywhere, we, who grow up in libraries. We, who remember our librarians forever.
At the workshop we share the stories, we ask ourselves, we discuss. Which are our differences? How do we differ? Is it difficult to grow up? Who is listening to us while we ask ourselves about the world? Is anybody listening at all?
I love to watch them deliberate. I am proud of them, of us. Of myself, when I was their age.
I believe that there will always be girls who love reading, who become women that question the world and want to change it for the better.
I believe in places like this library, where I dived into the books and got back to my childhood, for a second, feeling sheltered and safe between my own people, between books.
I believe in people like Milica, Dragana and Ivana.
I believe in our girls, who asked me, at the end of the workshop, “can I hug you?”
I believe, because after those hugs, I did not need anything in the whole world, for hours.
And, I believe in young people with books, and big thoughts in their minds. They will change the world.
Photo credits: Sara Kecman, a student of Photography. As a little girl, she was a member of the “Socializing in library” section.
A special thanks to Milica Crkvenjakov.
