It's very common to think see learning happens mainly in classrooms through books, lessons, and formal teaching. But standing in a rural yard in Byaspur community of Gopalganj during knowledge fair of Grow Your Reader Foundation, learning from community was different experience. 

The Knowledge Fair was organized around Nabanno—the harvest festival of Bangladesh. The space was filled with greenery, open sky, laughter, and the smell of freshly made pitha. It didn’t feel like a “program.” It felt like home.

One thing I learnt clearly: When learning is rooted in local culture, people feel safe to participate. Children were playing traditional rural games. How joyful everything felt! Learning did not appear as pressure or responsibility, it appeared as celebration.

Another powerful learning was community ownership. The community members decorated the entire fair themselves. They prepared "Pitha", organized activities, and shared stories. This wasn’t something done for them; it was done by them.

As someone working closely with communities, this experience reminded me to observe, and listen to, not rush into solutions, but to notice the wisdom already present in the community. Nabanno, pitha making, rural games, and storytelling all things were already existed. So, it’s another time to see how SALT is contributing to reveal the unreveal things within the community.