The Dram Projects library moved into the KL Youth Hub today.

These ladies are volunteers from a local college. They helped with shelving.

The young man is our new library manager. His name is Anwar and he’s 13.

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The Dram Projects is moving its library to the KL Youth Hub. More than 50 boxes of books will be making their way to Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman on 26th October, 2009.

The Youth Hub is a project initiated and operated by Rumah Nur Salam. It will cater to youth age 13-21 and offer a variety of services including back-to-school classes and counselling.

TDP have signed on to partner RNS and the Hub to run literacy and other reading- and arts-related activities and programmes for the children who use both facilities.

We are very excited about this partnership and see it as a way to really make a difference in the lives of children from maginalised communities.

If you would like to learn more about the work we’ll be doing with RNS and the Hub, and/or would like to sign on as a volunteer, please email dramprojects@gmail.com.

Twenty-sixth September saw the start of Banned Books Week in the States.

The American Library Association describes the event as … “an annual event celebrating the freedom to read …. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.”

Here in Malaysia, more than 1500 books have been banned between 1971 and 2009. In terms of children’s literature, books that have been seized by customs officials include Spongebob Squarepants series, Dora’s Fiesta Adventure ActivePoint Book, Poems & Prayers for Children and Read-Aloud Children’s Classics.

The Dram Projects believes in the freedom to read. We also believe in the right to make informed choices when selecting reading material.

TDP will be participating in the Right to Read Festival, presented by Sisters in Islam and The Centre for Independent Journalism.

Artist/photographer Wei Meng Foo and Daphne Lee (of TDP) will conduct Free2READ, a workshop that introduces children (9-12) to their rights as readers; celebrates the joy and thrill of discovering the different worlds and experiences that lie between the covers of books; and examines the problems and challenges children might encounter in their reading journeys.

The workshop participants will be encouraged to discuss and debate the concept of book-banning; invited to question book-banning and challenging policies; and explore their own feelings and thoughts regarding the practice of restricting children’s reading material.

This will be followed by a bookcover art session with artist/photographer Wei Meng Foo. During this session participants will be invited to exercise their imaginations and creatiivity to produce book covers that celebrate their rights as readers.

Date: 10th October, 2009

Time: 10am-1pm

Venue: The Annexe, Central Market, Kuala Lumpur

Admission: Free

Registration: Call Nazreen at 03-7785 6121

The Dram Projects organised a storytelling event on 23rd August, 2009.

The event was hosted by Huckleberry Cafe (Times Bookshop, Bangsar Shopping Centre) and supported by Times Bookshop.

Peter Worthington the author of the Tipee Hipee Safari Park series was the storyteller, entertaining children age four to 10 with a story about the adventures of twin orang utan Gracie and Georgie.

The series’ illustrator Nur Azmi Mohkter then showed the kids how to draw a tapir.

The session ended with a drawing and colouring contest.

The Dram Projects and Book Haven held a book drive on 16th August and raised over 600 books for the following …

• New Life Care Center (Port Dickson)

• Rumah Anak Yatim Baitul Izzah, Kuala Lumpur

• Zomi & Zophie Schools,Kuala Lumpur

• YKPM in Prima Selayang, Selangor

Thank you to all volunteers who helped sort the books.

Project OMG’s Girls Out Loud event features an all-girl lineup.

Starring:

Liyana Dizzy

Rina Salwati

Sheena Baharuddin

Priscilla Xavier

Yana

Fairuz Sulaiman

Ring Master: Prakash Danial

Warning! Some performers may have facial hair.

Project OMG is supported by The Dram Projects Sdn Bhd

The Dram Projects has recently started work with Burmese refugee children who live in a house in Section 17, Petaling Jaya.

These children receive basic English and Maths tuition from two ladies every Monday morning.

TDP visits every Wednesday morning to teach the older kids (10-16) English.

This is all the education they get.

We feel that these kids need more and regular tutoring and so we are calling for volunteers who would be willing to spend one to two hours a week with them, and commit to doing so for at least a year.

You could volunteer to work with these kids on weekends or weekdays.

All these children urgently need instruction in basic reading and writing (English), and arithmetic.

We also need volunteers to read to and draw with the younger children (under 5s).

Please email dramprojects@gmail.com or call 016-328 1513 if you’d like to volunteer.

The Dram Projects is making this appeal to everyone who knows how books and reading can make a difference.

Let’s pledge to give RM1 a day for the next 12 days!

Email dramprojects@gmail.com to register for this fundraising exercise, and tell your friends whose lives have been changed or touched by books to pledge their RM1-a-day too!

Pledge Period: 22nd June to 3rd July 2009

Charity: Burmese refugee schools

The money collected will be used to buy books for the Burmese refugee schools supported by Bless Community Services.

The Dram Projects will publish your name and your pledge,plus the final total, on Facebook, via email and on its website.

The Dram Projects visited The Zomi School yesterday with Book Haven’s Geoffrey Cheah (third from L) and LC Lee (second from L) to officially launch its library.

The Zomi School is run and supported by Blessed Community Services, which is headed by Tania Lee (below, far L, standing) and Michael Quan (below, far R, standing).

Book Haven initiated the library project, providing the school with cabinets and funds for its first batch of books. Yesterday, TDP donated a further 60+ books to school. We hope to continue donating books to this school and the other education centres run by Blessed for Burmese refugees.

Here are some of the children singing AlI I Have to Do is Dream by the Everley Brothers.

The Dram Projects recently facilitated the donation of books by Scholastic to New Life Care Centre orphanage in Port Dickson.

The library at the centre is sponsored by our partner Book Haven, and TDP hopes to both supply and facilitate further donations of books to the orphanage.

The New Life Care Centre is the home of about 35 children, aged three to 14 years. These children have either lost one parent or both.

They are cared for by Pastors Katherine Paul and Paul Jegan who are also the centre’s founders. The Bandar Utama Ladies FIR Group also offer active support including supplying the centre with donations in the form of food items and clothes. The ladies have also started a college fund for the children.

On 12th June, Jeffrey Cheah (Book Haven), Daphne Lee (TDP) and the BU Ladies met at the centre to officially launch the library.

Daphne also “performed” Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, with enthusiastic help from the children!

“We’re going on a bear hunt, we’re going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day! We’re not scared!”