Human Library

Posted 27/12/2017

It was an interesting concept that I was invited to share my story on. The youth made up 50% of the crowd and the rest was open to public. The intention was to share our life experiences, especially to the youths as we hope that this would serve as a learning platform for them to avoid future pitfalls.

We, the speakers, are being named as “Human Books” and the audience who came are called “Readers”, therefore the concept of the Human Library. We are being read as books by sharing our life experiences.

Our journeys may seemed a little far stretched for them now. However, it is also surprising to see that they do have friends or elder generations that has gone through some challenges that were shared. Some did not know what to say or help them and hence, developed the desire to understand more so as to help or comfort the bereaved. This triggered them to attend the sharing session.

There are 2 parts in each session, consisting of 2 x 40 minutes of sharing each where readers are encouraged to ask questions and interact with us to maximise their learning experiences. There are a total of 12 human books on that day so they can switch around in the 4 sessions to listen to a few if they wanted to.

More importantly on my part, I have also learnt to slow down on my sharing and to listen to them more attentively instead of just sharing. It was also a learning curve and I was glad that I enjoyed and benefitted from it by hearing from other human books too.

Likewise, readers were encouraged to give their reviews on a link or to write small notes to the human books should they wanted to. I received from 1 of the fellow volunteer who sat in to listen. Here it goes:

Hello Felicia!!
Thank you for taking the time to share your story with me today! I was very edified and inspired by your story. 🙂 It’s amazing how you’ve continued to trust in Christ’s plan despite your struggles!
THANK YOU!!

Of course, the question is always what goes on after that? Life continued as usual? How about those who had suffered losses, will life really be the same as before? So how to continue living as usual when you know clearly, it is not usual anymore? For me, I was glad that I took a little step at each time to bring me to where I am today. However, I do know of people who have difficulties in coping with it. So who can they turn to? I was glad that I attended the course – Grief Recovery Method (GRM) conducted by Whispering Hope Singapore where I learnt that it is a life skills that we can put into practices and slowly and surely we can learn to manage and cope with each day with baby steps.