Library ‘books’ tell human story
8:53am Thursday 17th June 2010 in News
IT is said that we all have a book in us.
Which is why Bolton Library decided to “loan out” people for an afternoon.
The Human Library experiment was an attempt to show that while you can read stories in books, real people tell much better stories.
It was developed in Denmark 10 years ago and gives people the chance who would not normally meet and talk, to share their life stories.
Bolton Library adopted the concept as part of Refugee Week, as many of the “human books”
were refugees who have come to live in Bolton.
The event was held at Central Library, Le Mans Crescent, and gave readers the chance to “borrow” their human book for 20 minutes, and to share their experiences.
Event organiser, team librarian Janet Carter, said: “It brings together people who all have a story to tell. About how they came to England, and why, and how they are finding living in Bolton. It gives them a chance to share their experiences.”
Readers were provided with a catalogue of “books” they could loan, which listed the six Human Books and what they were about. Checking a “book” out meant sitting down and having a coffee and a chat together.
Rebwar Sulayman, a 34-year-old refugee from Iraq, who moved to Bolton in 1999. Rebwar, who now works with Refugee Action, took 24 days to get to England, using lorries, trains and walking long distances.
He said: “It is hearing information from the horse’s mouth, personal experiences. I wouldn’t say it is scary coming into a new country, you just feel more anxious, but survival instinct kicks in and gets you going.”
Pemberton Ndlovu came to Bolton from Zimbabwe as a refugee in 2007.
He said: “It was really hard at first because you don’t know people and the society around you, because it is different.
Things like this are such a good idea because it is a really good way to meet people and see what they have to say.”
Michael Hope, aged 57, from Tonge Moor, “read” Mr Ndlovu. He said: “You get to know someone over just a few minutes. It opens up horizons and outlooks and you can understand how the world operates.”
By contrast, Roy Pennington, from Breightmet, has lived in England all his life.
He is 71 and a volunteer helper in English for speakers of other languages classes, where many of the students are asylum seekers and refugees.
He said: “This is such a good idea because it brings people from all over the world together and helps them to integrate into the community.”
Peter Yoak, aged 36, is from the Sudan. When civil war broke out, he and his family lived in a Ugandan camp for nine years. In 2006 they settled in England and he now lives in Great Lever and studies at Bolton University.
He said: “It is good to be involved in it, to share your experience of when you come to the country. I came because it is good to share together, so people can get some idea of where I come from.”
He says he loves living in Bolton. “I feel safe here, I feel at home,” he explained.
