By Our Special Correspondent
SHILLONG, Nov 2: It takes over 3 hours to reach Raibah, a village beyond Mawsynram, where large stretches of the single-lane road is wide enough for only one truck to pass. So when a vehicle drives uphill over the crater-sized holes, the one driving downhill must push itself to the side of the drain at the risk of toppling down the sheer precipice. Yet this village boasts of a very vibrant student population ably guided by dedicated teachers.
One such inspiration teacher is Batskhem Thabah who unfortunately is transferred out of the 75-year-old Raibah Government Lower Primary School – a school he helped renovate with funds from well-wishers.
Batskhem attributes the fund -raising efforts for the school renovation to Ibarihun Majaw, a fellow advocate in the journey to enable students to have quality education in an eco-system where they feel valued and not in a dilapidated school building.
Getting to the Raibah Government Lower and Upper Primary Schools means negotiating hundreds of steps down and climbing up an equal number of steps.
On Saturday, the Captain Williamson Sangma State University (CWSSU) organised an eventful programme which included the inauguration of the Raibah Living Library after which it was handed over to the Raibah community. The students of Raibah Govt Lower and Upper Primary Schools were part of the programme.
The project is a collaboration between The Owl Library Initiative spearheaded by Badapbiang Dkhar and her team, Batskhem Thabah, and Ibarihun Majaw. The other collaborators include Dr Randolph Langstieh of the Department of Social Work, CWSSU, and the Departments of Creative Arts and Music, Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU).
The students of the Raibah Upper Primary School are in fact agog with excitement at the rare opportunity to see so many townfolks visit their village.
Before the inauguration of the Raibah Living Library the guests were taken on nature walk by Thabah. His students demonstrated their knowledge of the indigenous plants and how they played a role in the indigenous healthcare system. There were leaves that healed a bleeding cut; leaves that provided vitamins and nutrients and could heal the flu and malaria. Wherever the young ones stumbled the elders would step in to add to their explainer.
It was a perfect example of how the elders in the community shared their native wisdom with the young and thus build a bridge between the generations and thereby filling in the knowledge gaps.
The Raibah Living Library is built in a place where the home of the legendary Syiem of Hima Maharam – Sngap Sing Syiem once was.
Batskhem Thabah says, “An agreement was signed between Piewrity Snaitang the grand-daughter of the third generation of Sngap Sing Syiem to hand over the land for building the library in order to enable the students and younger generation of the area to spend quality time reading and building their knowledge and understanding of the world around them. A second agreement was also signed with Piewrity Snaitang by Batskhem Thabah, Ibarihun Majaw and Badapbiang Dkhar for handing over the library to the community on November 1, 2025 so that they can carry forward this project,” Thabah informed.
It was informed that Green Hub, an organisation based in Tezpur, and the Royal Enfield Social Mission supported the project for 2024-2025.
What this project demonstrates is the supportive role played by CWSSU and its Social Work Department led by Dr Randolph Langstieh and the MLCU’s Creative Arts Department led by Careen Langstieh.
The MLCU students introduced the Raibah Upper Primary School to the world of colour and painting. A student excitedly explained to the guests how he and other students dipped their hands in water and then in colour and started putting that imprint on the wall, giving it a colourful look. Paintings by the MLCU students have lighted up the Upper Primary school walls which otherwise were covered with mud and grime.
After the formal inauguration of the Library by the students, there was a story-telling session where guests were seated in traditional stools while the granddaughters of (L) Sngap Sing Syiem, who passed away in 1848, Wissila Snaitang and Esbilin Snaitang narrated stories of their grandfather, giving the guests insights into his tryst with the British then and how uncompromising he was in not surrendering to them, despite much persuasion.
This was followed by a narration of Khasi history and culture by Prof (retd) Ailynti Nongbri, of the Khasi Department of Shillong College. The students listened attentively to her story.
The idea of the Living Library is also to regularly promote such story telling sessions in the village.
Later at the cultural event in the only place where there was enough plain land for a field, the Rangbah Shnong of Raibah Village, Pynshailang Dohling, gave an oral narrative about how Raibah Village started and how it got its name from the bamboo strings – thri in Khasi- were known to be very robust and were sold in the markets of the Hima then.
“Raibah used to be an economically and socially thriving village but over the years we have come down instead of progressing. Hence we should work together at building this village,” Dohling said.
What was heartwarming about the event was that Badapbiang Dkhar of The Owl Library came all the way carrying her little 6-month-old baby and negotiated the steps. The commitment of the Owl Library Project was visible.
Badapbiang says, “The Owl Library sets up libraries in schools or institutions where children from socially or economically backward communities congregate. So far we have set up 20 mini-libraries. To make this initiative sustainable and ensure accountability, we work with people from the community, collaborating with NGOs, community-based organisations and the local government. The more decentralised the approach, the better the direct access to books”.
She added that The Owl Library is looking at building mini libraries in more schools, orphanages and children’s homes. The selected ones will receive training by their volunteers and would include book keeping, indexing, maintaining a register of books and generating enthusiasm to read and also teaching ground-level volunteers how to use books such as encyclopaedias, dictionaries and atlases.
Additionally, The Owl Library would also train a student librarian to take up responsibility to look after the library and to ensure that this institutional knowledge gets passed on to other students in the coming years.
“By doing this, we are hoping to create a culture of not just acquiring new knowledge, but also one of accountability, trust, and collective responsibility,” Badapbiang stated.
A musical drama on the Khasi folk tale where a young boy was swallowed up by a massive rock while his mother was attending to her farm work nearby had the audience in tears.
Students of CWSSU gave a stirring performance while MLCU’s Music Department along with music maestro Chesterfield Khongwir put up a class act to end the day’s event on a high note.
