PHOTOS: Blue bus of Kabul brings joys of reading to Afghan children

In this Saturday, March 10, 2018, photo, Afghan children board a library on wheels, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)

In this Saturday, March 10, 2018, photo, Afghan children read books in a library on wheels, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)

In this Saturday, March 10, 2018 photo, Afghan children read books inside a bus library, in Kabul, Afghanistan.(AP)

KABUL: The children of Kabul love the blue bus — they rush toward it every time it pulls into their street, eager to come onboard.
But it’s no ordinary bus. Its name is Charmaghz, the Dari word for Walnut, and it’s a library on wheels — the first such enterprise ever in Afghanistan’s war-battered capital.
Inside the bus are hundreds of books for children, and small tables and chairs.
The bus was the initiative of 25-year-old Freshta Karim who wanted to give Kabul’s children easier access to books.
Marwa, an 11-year-old in western Kabul, can hardly wait for the bus to arrive to jump in and start reading.
She says “the first day I came on the bus, I was so happy that I didn’t want to leave and go home.”