Projet de citoyennet : Public Library

AbdelRahman El-Hassan

Citoyen et action communautaire, CIACL2, Facult des Sciences,

Universit Saint Joseph, 2me semestre (L4), 2me anne SVT,
2015/2016

Soumis le 14/3/2016

I live in the Koura district, in a village called Btouratij. Koura is one

of the 36 districts in Lebanon, and comprises a total of 52
villages. Its capital and largest town is Amioun, with about 10,000
inhabitants as of 2010. The current head of the municipalities of
Koura is Karim Elias Boukarim. Overall, the district is known for its
beautiful landscape, moderated weather, olive tree cultivation
and olive oil production, citizens hospitality, and most
importantly, education. Citizens of Koura district are well-known
for their high level education, their love for knowledge and
constant search for new and constructive ideas. But, the district
needs help, and actions should be taken, as all of this is fading
away. One of the many solutions to this problem is building a
public library in the district.

Note that the number of schools and universities is high in the

area, no public library is found. Thus the opportunity to start the
project arises. The number of readers is also important in the
area, but no place for them to get books, nor sit around to discuss
about them. They either buy them from bookstores, or order them
from other countries.

Founding a public library wouldnt just mean an almost free

access to a wide-ranged variety of books, but it will also serve as
a place to help illiterates, by assigning some time, where
individuals can volunteer and teach uneducated people how to
read and write.
 With this project, knowledge will be spread across all villages of
the district, and the rate of illiteracy will decrease noticeably
among citizens. And step by step, we can spread the idea to the
surrounding districts, whose people suffer from the same
problems. And together, we can work on disseminating knowledge
and fighting ignorance on a bigger scale, and the project would
soon be a national affair.

The main problem that I aim to solve with my project is ignorance

and illiteracy. These two issues have brought endless conflicts to
my country, and have caused a lot of problems and damage to
the citizens. Armed conflicts, garbage, pollution, all problems
caused by ignorance. In koura, illiteracy rates are rising, because
of the technological invasion, higher poverty rates, and the
refugee crisis thats demanding more attention day by day.

Technology has spread so fast so wide, that everybody nowadays

has his own cell phone, internet and unlimited web access. Kids,
teens and adults are spending too much time on social media,
that they almost forgot what a book looks like. Technology was
invented to serve us, but the servant became the master, and
people are turning into slaves for their devices. We cannot deny
the good technology has brought upon us, but people are
becoming addictive, and theyre wasting their time on useless, or
sometimes, dangerous things. The majority of students are
neglecting their studies. People are focusing on shallow ideas that
they see on the internet, so they totally forgot about the useful
and constructive topics.

Poverty is also making the problem worse. Lebanon is passing

through difficult times, and a financial crisis is on the horizon. Like
any other district, Koura is affected by it. People, especially the
low-waged employees, are trying their best to economize and
save money for their families. And because books are expensive,
people prefer not to buy them. Kids are growing apart from books
and theyre not being taught to love reading.
 Koura is sheltering a large number of refugees. The majority of
them are uneducated and illiterate. Some citizens are taking
offensive attitudes against them, and in some areas, conflicts are
arising. It is our duty to stop these conflicts, and show the people
that theres nothing to be worried about. We should also consider
approaching the refugees and helping them in any means
possible.
 To start this project, we should first gather up a team of people
representing all the villages in the district, and who are interested
and willing to devote their time and energy to make it all happen.

We got to have engineers, workers, and we should cooperate with

people who are willing to fund this project with the money. We
should also looks for sponsors like banks and shops all around the
district to help us gather the needed sum.

We should also meet up with the head and members of the

municipalities to talk about funding the project. The municipalities
should give us a map of the possible locations where the library
would be built. The location of the building should be clear and
easy to get to for all the citizens, in a well-known area like Amioun
or Dahr l Ein.

After that is done, we should spread the words, to encourage

people on funding the project. A public library needs a lot of work,
and materials. It also needs a lot of books. So the team must raise
donation campaigns, where everyone should search for people
who can donate books: schools, universities, bookstores, houses,

We could also cooperate with international organizations, who can

help us with materials and books we need to finish the project.
These organizations could also send us specialized people to
teach us how to run the project, teachers and tutors to help us
start an educational system for uneducated people.

Last but not least, we should spread the words about the opening.
We should print posters and banners, make pages on social
media, and tell everybody about the project. We should make a
big opening ceremony, and invite everybody to come and
encourage us.
 Some problems that could face us before the project starts are
lack of space, money and cooperation. The municipalities could
hold the work or refuse it. We could lack the proper sum to start
the project or we could lack the proper materials and workers. We
might not also gather enough books to open the library.

Some problems that could face us during the work are the lack of
cooperation and materials. We might need a lot of workers on this
project, so we should try to provide them. This project also needs
a lot of materials so we should be ready in case we run out of
them.

Some problems that could face us after the work is done are the
lack of encouragement and the lack of funding. People might not
be fond of our project, so we should always do educational and
cultural activities for citizens of all ages. We should also keep
searching for new and interesting ideas for the library. We have to
constantly check on new books and stay up-to-date with the
latest bestsellers and new sequels.