Room to Read Blog

Doing Good is Clearly Good for Business

They’ve done it again! In just 12 short months, global software company Atlassian has once again exceeded all expectations by raising an incredible $500,000 for Room to Read through their Starter license program, which you can read more about here.

The promotion was launched last fall as an extension of the overwhelmingly successful Stimulus Package that was introduced in April 2009. Through the promotion, small software startups can purchase six of Atlassian’s most popular software products for just $10 each, with all proceeds benefitting Room to Read programs in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

The funding from Atlassian is already making a big difference, with current and future projects to include 34 new libraries, four schools and two local language books. Money is also being set aside to provide 250 scholarships for the holistic education of participants in Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program. All told, more than 32,000 children will have benefitted from educational opportunities thanks to the Start License promotion.

According to Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes, selecting Room to Read as their charity partner was an easy choice after having been inspired for years by our efforts to promote literacy. What was unexpected, he said, was how quickly the promotion “took on a life of its own,” with 31,000 licenses sold to date.

The software company’s support of Room to Read is an extension of the their model wherein 1% of employee time goes to volunteer work, 1% of company equity goes to the Atlassian foundation and 1% of products are donated to non-profits. It’s a model that, according to Room to Read Founder John Wood, “shows how companies can succeed while also doing good for their community.”

Atlassian was also a major player in the Financial Times’ seasonal appeal to readers this year, which raised over $4 million for Room to Read.  The company pledged to match readers’ donations up to $100,000, effectively doubling the impact of those readers’ individual contributions.

Spread the Word: Room to Read Celebrates our "Year of Tens"

We know you keep hearing from us about our "Year of Tens" and our recent opening of our 10,000th library...but we can't control our excitement!

Thanks to our very special pro-bono video team (www.ThePositiveStory.com), we were able to capture the celebration at the ribbon-cutting in Nepal where we opened our 10,000th library and finished our Trek to 10,000.  Have a look!

 

You can also see all the highlights -- photos, blogs, tweets and more at www.roomtoread.org/yearoftens.

Please help us spread the word about our amazing accomplishments -- post, re-tweet, like, stumble, digg...whatever you need to do to share the good news.

Thank you, as always, for your support!

Reuniting with a Familiar Friend: Sabina from Nepal

As you know, in recognition of Mother's Day, all donations in May toward our Girls’ Education program are being matched thanks to a generous donor. Thank you to those who have already contributed and made a difference in the lives of the thousands of girls on the program.

To show you what a difference our Girls' Education program is having, we wanted to revisit one of our favorite “girl” stories that we get asked about a lot at Room to Read –- the story of a Nepali Girls’ Education program scholar named Sabina.

For those that need a refresher on Sabina, in 2007 PBS’s FRONTLINE/World  produced a short documentary called "Nepal: A Girl’s Life" that documented a nine year old Sabina and what her life was like now that she was on our Girls’ Education program and had the opportunity to go to school and learn to read.

At age nine, Sabina sat on a pile of stones and while chipping away at a rock with  a hammer in her hand, told us that she wanted to be a doctor. But now the young lady asserts that she wants to work on airplanes with a kind of authority that is difficult to challenge!

You’ll see from reading the story below that there is no stopping Sabina from reaching out for the stars.

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Sabina walks into the room quietly but when spotting Reema, Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program officer in Nepal, breaks into a huge smile and runs over to greet Reema with a warm hug.

“I was happy to hear that you are here! It is like meeting someone from my own family,” she says with a giggle before giving her another hug and then turning around to find out who the new faces in the group were.

“What is your name?” she asks us even before we can introduce ourselves. She extends her hand out for a firm hand shake.  It is endearing to see Sabina the child, grow into a confident and graceful young teenager.

Sabina, who just turned thirteen, is soft spoken but she's certainly at ease with the Room to Read Nepal staff as she laughs and jokes with them. She even sings a song for the team and does a quick folk dance to update us about her new found hobbies and interests.

Sabina is now in 6th grade  and her interest in reading story books has not diminished. “I take one book home each week.  I would love to read more but I do not have much free time,” says Sabina softly.

With both her parents away at work for most of the day, Sabina and her brother have to share the house chores. “I get up in the morning around 5:45 am and then study for two hours while my brother cooks lunch for the family. At eight on the dot, both of us leave for school,” says Sabina before adding, “In the evening it is my turn to cook the meal before my parents return. It is very tiring to get back from school and start cooking. I don’t have the energy to study after that.”

“How will you become a doctor then?” I counter.

“Ooops! Who said I want to become a doctor? I said that when I was a kid and did not know about other options. Now I want to work on airplanes as a hostess!” she says with a flourish.

“But why?” I persist.

She laughs aloud and then changes her tone, “I want to see the world and working on airplanes is one way I can do that.” Sabina raises her hand to indicate that she has not finished explaining. “More importantly, my priority now is to finish my studies quickly and be able to find a profession that allows me to earn money for the family.”

"Do you still get to go out and play your favorite games?” we ask, anxious to find out if our Sabina has actually shaken away her childhood fantasies and dreams completely.

“No way! I am too big to go out and play games now. When I do get time now, I watch Hindi movies with my friends on the TV at my neighbor’s house.”

On being asked if she still had to go to stone quarry, Sabina nods. “My parents discourage me from going there now. They want me to study.  But I go there once in a while when we have a school holiday so that my mother can take some rest.”

As we get ready to leave, we tease Sabina and tell her that the next time we meet she will have decided on pursuing another career path.

“Not a chance!” says Sabina and then grabs a piece of paper and writes ‘Airhostess: Sabina Timalsinha’ before adding “Keep this paper as a record!”

On our way back to the city, we stop at the stone quarry to visit Sabina’s parents. They continue to work at the same stone quarry on the outskirts of Kathmandu.  Their day starts as early as 7:00 am (6:00 am in summer) and both husband and wife keep chipping at the rocks untill 6:00 pm with just a one hour lunch break.

“It is tough but we don’t have any other skill so we have to continue to earn a living this way,” says Sabina’s mother, Rita.

Between them they earn $1,600 Nepalese Rupees every month ($21 USD).  “We are grateful to Room to Read for supporting Sabina,” says her father Krishna Prasad. He explains, “This opportunity has also made us more aware of our responsibilities as parents. For if people from far off countries are supporting our child in school then we should also do our best to ensure that she does get a good education. So now we save $50 Nepalese Rupees every week from our earnings to ensure our kids can go to college later.”

Before we parted with Sabina she confirmed this change in her family.  “ I want to thank Room to Read for this opportunity. It has changed not just my life but also that of my parents because now they are committed to our study.”

-- Reena Luke

To read more stories like that of Sabina, please download our 2009 Girls' Education Yearbook (pdf).

And, don't forget for the month of May in honor of Mother's Day, all donations to our Girls' Education Program are matched up to $150,000!  Click here to donate for yourself or in honor of a special loved one.

Room to Read Student Becomes a Teacher in India

“I know how empowering good education can be,” says Hema, a 19-year-old graduate of Room to Read’s Girls Education Program.  And she means it –- in addition to pursuing her college education, Hema has been a teacher at the Shishu Mandir School in her home village in Uttarakhand, India for the past year, passing on the gift of education to the next generation of her community. Soft-spoken by nature, Hema completely transforms in the classroom -– always poised and in command. “There is so much satisfaction in helping children to learn. I am adopting the campaign slogan, ‘Each one, teach one’ and taking it to a new level by teaching so many at once,” she says of her plans to pursue a teaching degree.

One of Room to Read’s first Girls’ Education participants in India, Hema was forced to give up her studies after 10th grade when her parents became unable to afford the school fees for all five children, and decided educating their two daughters was not a priority.  With Room to Read’s help, she was able to continue her schooling, and passed 12th grade with flying colors two years later.

Immediately after graduating, Hema begin dedicating herself to helping other students succeed, tutoring younger Girls’ Education program participants to help pay for college.  Her dedication to the younger students lead her local school to offer her a job, which she eagerly accepted, and now happily juggles that responsibility with her undergraduate studies. “I am here today as a teacher because Room to Read helped me when I needed that support most,” says Hema, “I would like to thank this wonderful organization for helping me, and other girls like me, get the opportunity to change our lives.”

It is in partnership with dedicated teachers like Hema, that Room to Read is able to affect the lives of so many children in the developing world.  This week, for Teacher Appreciation Week, we thank all the incredible educators on the ground in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Zambia, who work tirelessly to provide the lifelong gift of education to their communities.  We couldn’t do it without you!

To read more about Hema and other stories from other girls on our Girls' Education program, please download our 2009 Girls' Education Yearbook (pdf).

And, don't forget for the month of May in honor of Mother's Day, all donations to our Girls' Education Program are matched up to $150,000!  Click here to donate for yourself or in honor of a special loved one.

Guest Blog: In Honor of Teacher Appreciation Week

This week we are celebrating teachers in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week.  Angela Lasiter, Room to Read's Manager of Legal Operation, blogged about that special teacher who inspired her to follow her passion and work for international NGOs.

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Many students have that “one” teacher in elementary or high school who influences them and shapes the person they eventually come to be.  While I had many great teachers at both levels, the connection that would send my life down an unexpected path came at the university level –- during my senior year! 

After three years of studying accounting at Arkansas Tech University, I signed up for “Model United Nations,” an elective I thought would beef up my public speaking skills and prepare me for law school.   The Model United Nations course professor, Dr. Kenneth Rogers, was a political science teacher, a former Air Force officer (like my father) and very, very serious about this subject.  The first semester was extremely challenging, but because the subject matter interested me, I made the cut and was able to continue in the course. 

Dr. Rogers would not allow us to represent powerful, developed countries so we spent our days playing the roles of U.N. delegates representing the interests of smaller, developing countries.  We quickly became experts on the particular country assigned to us.  We studied how the true delegates voted at the U.N.  If our country acquiesced to the drug trade, we had to vote along the same lines with regard to weakened trade or shipping regulations and tariffs.  If our country worked hard to fight human trafficking, that became our new caucus discussion.  Dr. Rogers taught us and led us into discussions regarding international nongovernmental organizations, nonprofits and their impact on the world stage.

I became so much more aware of the world around me and the issues that were being discussed on the nightly news became ALIVE to me.  At the end of semester, we were selected, after winning first place in State, to compete with other schools in the country at the national competition.  I represented Tanzania with another student.  After several days of deliberating, caucusing, friendly debating, and 18-hour days, “the delegation from Tanzania” won first place! 

Dr. Rogers had such a significant role in my senior year.  That year changed my life and influenced my future career path.  I had learned about many of the great international nonprofits during my coursework and I was fortunate to be hired by one of the larger humanitarian organizations after school.  After almost ten years, I was then introduced to Room to Read and I now work with the most talented team in the world -- the Room to Read global staff.

Our educators, at the beginning stages of life or many years into it, can play such an important role in the lives of our youth.  Dr. Rogers’ passion and excitement drew me closer to charitable work and giving.  While Dr. Rogers left the university for other classrooms, like so many do, I feel sure he would be proud to know of the impact he had on me.