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Teen Girl Born Prematurely Honored by Girl Scouts For Building 2 Mini-Libraries In Hospital

Published

4 years ago

March 9, 2020

Anoushka Talwar was born a premature baby, 27weeks weighing only 2.2lbs.
But she has grown up healthy and the once tiny girl has now a huge heart for other people.
She received the second highest honor in Girl Scouts, the Silver Award, for creating two mini-libraries in a hospital so parents can read books to their premature babies.

Anoushka Talwar was born about 3 months earlier than expected weighing only 2.2 pounds. But the once tiny girl, now shows as huge compassion towards other preemies like her and their families.

The 14-year-old girl scout from Georgia, is very fortunate to have grown up healthy and carries no illness even with how she was born. But she remembers a lot of stories told about her and her brother who was also born a premature baby like her.

“My dad used to tell me how he would read to me and my brother at the hospital every single day,” Anoushka told Atlanta Journal Constitution, “and how it was beneficial to a child’s brain and how it was a good way to bond with a child through an incubator.”

With a new project she is working on, Anoushka hopes to help those preemies like her overcome the challenges thrown at them early in life.

Babies who are born prematurely need to stay in incubators and cannot be held by their parents. It is recommended that during these times parents should talk, sing, or read aloud to them.

That is why Anoushka came up with the idea to collect children’s books from her Atlanta neighbors to be donated for the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory Johns Creek Hospital.

Parents like hers, can now read books to their preemie babies. Initially, Anoushka’s target was only 100 books, but she has now collected 450 from her neighbors and donation boxes she has set-up in local stores.

With this, Anoushka has received the second-highest Girl Scouts honor, a Silver Award, after she has created two mini-libraries in the hospitals.

“At every door and house I went to, I would explain what my project was,” she said. “Parents can’t have any physical contact with their premature babies. All they can do is sing, read and talk to them.”

“Babies that receive loving words have double the vocabulary of those who did not – by the time they reach five years of age,” director of Women’s Services at Emory Johns Creek Hospital, Christine Wollenhaup, explained to the AJC.

This experience has inspired Anoushka to pursue in the field of law or become a detective so she could help more people. She also wants to work hard and get the highest Girls Scout Gold Award that only the few 6% of Girl Scouts ever received. She also wants to be in TED club and be able to talk and inspire people someday with her own story.

Congratulations to Anoushka Talwar on an incredible service project: https://t.co/QSyYIaU0GU pic.twitter.com/IcOYF5VzSM— Innovative (@iii_Innovative) March 6, 2020