My Shelf to a Shared Space: Karuna Trust Junior Team Library Project

On September 7th, 2024, as a part of the Karuna Trust Junior Team, I helped with opening a library in Battaramulla for underprivileged students around Sri Lanka. On this day, the Karuna Trust group invited several students from local schools around the island for the opening of this new library. This day marked the beginning of what we hope will have a long-lasting impact on their education and aspirations. One of the most important aspects of this library is that it’s completely free for the students. Any child can borrow books provided by the members of the Karuna Trust Junior Team.

To this library, I donated approximately 170 English books, ranging from fictional tales to classic literature, hoping to provide something for anyone’s interests. Additionally, I contributed LKR 50,000 to buy new Sinhala books for the students. I gave this extra money to ensure that students from all linguistic backgrounds could benefit from this space. On top of this, together with the members, we thought it would be a good initiative to give the students a handful of books each for them to keep. I am very glad and pleased that we made this choice, because not only was their excitement at the library so heartwarming, but their reactions to their own set of books were truly unforgettable. The wide smiles on their faces as I handed the books over to them (as seen below), and seeing them scavenge through the books afterward showed how much they valued this action we did.

All in all, this experience of opening the library was very fulfilling for me. Working alongside the Karuna Trust Junior Team again, I felt proud to contribute to a space that provides free access to books to underprivileged students across Sri Lanka. I think that this project is will have an ever lasting impact on the kids, as they are able to learn so much through this numerous books we have given them.

This is the website link to the Karuna Trust website, and here is the link to the Karuna Trust Junior Team website.