Tall tales Children flock to the storyteller of Karachi

Pedalling down a narrow alleyway in Karachi's crowded Lyari Town, Saira Bano slows as she passes a group of children sitting on the ground, listening to a man reading aloud from a book. The eight-year-old gets off her bike, slips off her sandals, and sits on the mat at the back.

- Zofeen T Ebrahim 

She has already heard the story from Mohammad Noman, who is entertaining more than a dozen children with the tale of Noori, an insecure yellow parrot. "I don't mind listening to it again," says Saira. "He's so funny." Noman, 23, is spending two weeks in Lyari pedalling an old ice-cream cart through its lanes, stopping to read his stories and leaving behind books for the children to borrow. He dropped out of school himself as a teenager but has returned to education and is now studying for his high school certificate.

He is also one of two storytellers working part-time for the Kahaani Sawaari (Stories on Wheels) programme, run by GoRead.pk, which is working to improve literacy among underprivileged communities in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city.