Recently we have been shouting about the power of books and literacy to make a difference to those in poverty – and Book Refuge exemplifies that.
The grassroots project, which kicked off in 2015 before re-launching under the new name in July this year, has a simple purpose – to set up libraries in homeless shelters.
Reading can be so powerful in that it is something that you can do by yourself but can also connect you to society in a bigger way
Book fanatic founder Priyanka Mogul has spent the last few months working with a modest group of volunteers collecting unwanted books and redistributing them to shelters across London.
“The project was inspired by a young homeless man who I met in West London,” the 26-year-old told The Big Issue. “I used to walk by him every single day and every time he would be reading a book on the side of the road. I started talking to him – as a big book enthusiast myself – about the books he was reading and he put across the idea that he was very surprised that more people who were homeless don’t read books. For him it was a distraction from the anxieties that he was facing. That made a lot of sense to me because even when I’m having a particularly bad day, reading books was just an escape from those negative thoughts.”
Now that Book Refuge is creating mini-libraries in shelters around the English capital, the next step is to create book clubs that boost engagement from shelter clients.
According to Priyanka: “We can’t just leave the books there and hope that people engage with them, especially when many of our clients might not have picked up a book in a very long time.”
