Bissoon distributes seven million books in TT

Bissoon Birsingh’s eyes seem to smile with you when he looks your way. He is 65, and is the president of the Progressive Youth Movement (PYM), Justice of Peace for St George West and a retired Port Authority worker. He is also responsible for distribution throughout the country of more than  seven million books over a period of 47 years. The books were distributed to many institutions, especially libraries.

PYM has been reaching out to schools, community libraries, hospitals, religious institutions, the University of the West Indies, the Hugh Wooding Law School, and the School of Continuing Studies, the Pharmacies Board and other institutions, free of cost. Birsingh said that his entire life has been centred around getting people to read. “Reading really helps people to become more intelligent, to be informed and to be involved in the happenings of the world. More so it helps the individual to develop a good vocabulary and a good command of the English language,” he said. Birsingh seems to have one objective on his mind — to reach out to various communities and establish libraries so that both young and old would be able to gain knowledge about any topic in the world. He noted that reading helps the individual escape into another world while enjoying their own life. He recommends that people should always have a novel or magazine close by so that they can learn while relaxing at home or on holidays.

Birsingh is an Overseas Partner (OP) of Book Aid International (BAI), and he often sends requests for certain books. BAI provides these books free of charge. BAI has been established in London for more than 80 years. They collect used and new books from various sources  and, are then distributed to more than 70 countries globally. Speaking about the early days in the field of book distribution, he said that it was in 1963 when he approached the British High Commission for assistance in establishing a library in San Juan, he was introduced to Ranguly Libraries Services of London. He made a request for some books  and within three weeks the books came to Trinidad. This was the start of things to come for Birsingh. He started requesting more and more books for schools. Today there are 112 different institutions receiving assistance from BAI.

Talking about the functions of PYM he said that the movement now has a membership of 300 people, including President of the Senate, Dr Linda Baboolal and her husband, Michael Baboolal. PYM has established football and cricket teams, but the emphasis is on books. Members are involved in collecting used books and distributing to the needy. He added that while many people insist that PYM charge a fee for the service, he likes maintaining a free distribution so that even those in rural areas and the underprivileged can assess the books. “Our major objective is the development of libraries and the boosting of the existing ones across the country. Emphasis is placed on the nurturing of remedial and developmental reading amongst children and the transformation of lives via the use of books to acquire skills and knowledge. Birsingh believes that one way to save the youths of a nation is to encourage them to read. He travels around the country conducting workshops and lectures on the importance of reading. Still, he says a lot more work must be done in order for people to get in the habit of reading books.