A visit from Our Book Worm Club Dadi; Shamsa Kazmi

We need trees and as city dwellers we often consider them simply a part of the landscape decorating the streets and people's homes. Sabheen Aunty read us a story about a girl who valued them as friends. The story about Meera is based on a true incident, about an unschooled girl who loved to learn from her surroundings in a village in India. Amongst her favourite haunts was a copse of trees which she aptly named Nani, Bahlu and Chotu.One day a group of city people arrive with machinery to cut away the trees, they only valued them as expensive building material. Meera rushed to intervene and seeing her determination and passion for the trees she loved, the village adults are compelled to act too, as do the city people. The story ended by giving all the club members a renewed appreciation for trees and throughout the reading the children discussed the different aspects of these creations of Allah SWT that make them so important to our lives.

 



TAC made by Shamsa Aunty

People and plants coexist; as plants cleanse the air for us and trees grip the soil keeping necessary soil firm for our use, we have a responsibility to care for them too. This was one of the things learnt from the activity conducted by Aunty Shamsa Kazmi ( the Bint Absar's Dadimaa, Masha'Allah). Shamsa Aunty demonstrated how to build an TerraAqua Column (TAC) and then guide the group as the children and mothers worked together in groups to put it together.



Handout of instructions to make TAC

 Shamsa Aunty distributed hand outs with instructions to guide the work. First she cut a bottle so that its upper half with its neck could be inverted to sit inside the lower tube. The base of the bottle was then cut and to make it a tube. the base of another bottle was cut and the first bottle tube with the inverted bottle neck were inserted into it to make a  column.




Moong Beans germinated overnight in a damp towel by Shamsa Aunty



The lower chamber of the column was filled with water, the inverted bottle neck would hold the soil, plants and germinated seeds, also provided by the Kazmi family, Masha'Allah. Shamsa aunty made a hole in the bottle cap with a heated knife and then inserted a wet drawstring through it. This drawstring acts like a wick, it runs through the entire column; absorbing the water from the bottom chamber and as it passes through the soil the roots of the plant and the soil absorb the water.



soil and saplings courtesy the Kazmi Family



The activity was very interactive as Shamsa Aunty discussed each step with the group, the main variables involved in the column (water, soil and plants) and suggested how they can be changed to observe  and measure the effects of the changes; using salt water, different types of soil sand various plants.





TAC prepared by children



TAC with drawstring leading into the water chamber

Masha'Allah the Book Club members enjoyed the hands on activity and wished that Shamsa Aunty could visit us again and teach us more. She will be returning to her home outside the country soon, but as she is now our Honorary Book Worm Club Dadi, we look forward to her next visit Insha'Allah.