Room to Read Blog

Room to Read Holiday Gift Catalog: Unwrap World Change

Ready, set, login...shop! As the calendar edges into December, shopping frenzy is reaching its peak. Today is Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year when the World Wide Web becomes a virtual shopping mall.

As you slog through the dozens of emails from retailers offering mega-deals on holiday gifts, we invite you to visit our own unique holiday gift catalog and consider a different type of gift-giving this year. Here, you’ll find something for everyone, and until the end of December, it’s buy one, get one free because all donations are being matched!

Your gift of support to Room to Read can positively and permanently change the life of a child. For as little as $25, you can buy school uniforms for four students in our Girls’ Education program. For $50, you can fill a library with puzzles, games and other learning supplies. If you’re looking for something for the person who has everything, you can sponsor the establishment of a library or school in their honor. Thanks to the generosity of two of our donors, all online gifts made through the end of December 2010, will be matched 100% up to $500,000!

Giving is easy -- choose a gift, make your payment and select an attractive gift card that you can either email or print.

We believe that education isn't a gift -- every child should have the right to wake up daily and attend school. Through our efforts in literacy and gender equality, we support that right for over five million children in Asia and Africa. But we need your support to make that number grow rapidly, for millions more children are still without access to education. Visit our holiday gift catalog, and you'll see the direct impact you can make. 

Also, if your gift-giving calls for something wrapped and with a bow, several socially-conscious retailers have partnered with Room to Read and help our efforts by donating a portion of their net sales from their products to us. Some of these include The Republic of Tea, Alp-n-Rock clothing, Booda Brand children's wear, Mirasa infant wear, and Fledgling Wine from Twitter. They appreciate your business, and we appreciate the added support.

On behalf of the entire Room to Read family, we hope that whichever holiday you celebrate this season, it is filled with joy, family and friends -- and, of course, reading!

 

 

A Global Message of Thanks from Room to Read

Asante. Dhanyabaad. Enkosi. Sukria. Ar kun. Nandri. Thank you.

No matter what the language, expressing thanks is universal. As we in the U.S. prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, we want to express our heartfelt appreciation to all of our volunteers and investors who have brought us through our first decade of providing educational opportunities for over five million children in Asia and Africa.

Please take a moment to enjoy this short video thank-you card and know that your support has made a huge difference in the lives of children for generations.

  
If you’re looking for a way to tell the people in your life how important they are, consider a gift to Room to Read in their honor. Visit our 2010 Holiday Gift Catalog and see how your donation can help us reach many more children with books, school supplies and the tools they need to create a brighter future for themselves and their communities.  And thanks to the generosity of two Room to Read champions, all online donations made by the end of December 2010 will be matched, up to $500,000 – so your gift will have twice the effect.

On behalf of the entire Room to Read family, we send a warm and very enthusiastic THANK YOU!

Don't forget, check out our Holiday Gift Catalog!

Honoring those Special Teachers on Vietnamese Educators' Day

November 20 is Vietnamese Educators’ Day, a day on which students show appreciation to their teachers by giving them small gifts or flowers or by preparing special performances or compositions. Vietnamese culture places a very high value on education, and teachers are well-respected for their commitment to helping children develop into accomplished young adults.

But in many of the rural, marginalized areas of the country, the harsh realities of daily survival often compete with a child’s ability to attend school. Rather than being a time of self-discovery and imagination, childhood in these areas is often muddied with conflict, violence, pressure for early marriage, and poverty. Positive role models, especially for girls, are rare. But fortunately, every once in a while, a very special person appears who creates a large impact in the lives around them -- and very often, this special person is a teacher.

In Long Hau Lower Secondary School in the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam, two very special people, Ms. Lien and Ms. Phuong, have started to change the lives of many of the local children. Both have dedicated their lives to preparing the local children to become confident and capable young adults equipped to navigate a sometimes challenging environment. Both are teachers -- and we honor their passion and commitment.

Ms. Phuong is one of Room to Read's social mobilizers who works with students on our Girls' Education program.  She works closely with 54 girls from the school, and with her warm and welcoming demeanor, has developed close relationships with the girls and their families. She is well aware of the family situations of each girl and pays special attention to any signs that the girls may be at risk for dropping out of school because of economic or social pressures.  Ms. Lien, the school's head teacher, is very supportive of the work being done by Room to Read and Ms. Phuong and ensures the program is implemented as best it can be in her school.

Both Ms. Lien and Ms. Phuong are strong proponents of the life skills component of the Girls’ Education program -- these include special workshops to develop self-confidence, self-awareness, decision-making and problem-solving skills. Girls often face extreme gender bias in education and beyond, and the goal of our life skills training, both for the girls and their communities, is to enact change in attitude and behavior so that girls can thrive equally in society.

Starting this year, the whole school district of Can Giuoc, of which Long Hau School is part, has adapted the Room to Read model of life skills training to include the entire student body, both boys and girls. With the strong support of the Minister of Education, the school management board and the commitment and teamwork of Ms. Lien and Ms. Phuong, all students now participate in and benefit from life skills trainings on Saturday mornings.

Ms. Lien plays an active role in this expanded program and expresses her enthusiasm, “We really believe that young people need life skills.  Thanks to the training we received from Room to Read, we now have many reference documents on life skills, and Ms. Phuong and I can act as resource teachers and model facilitators to train other teachers.”

Ms. Phuong doesn’t mind that her Saturdays are now filled with the extra life skills workshops. Other teachers are joining her sessions and those of Ms. Lien to receive on-site training so that even more students can participate in the program. Though she admits her job is very tiring and time-consuming, Ms. Phuong stays happy and motivated in the knowledge that her students will gain something valuable and useful for their daily lives. 

Read more about our Girls’ Education program and our work in Vietnam.

 

Loving Books Too Much? One Boy's "Secret" Discovered in Laos

Classroom libraries, small collections of age- and reading level-appropriate books provided directly in the classroom, are seen as viable options for schools that don’t have space for separate library facilities. Two years ago, Room to Read initiated a pilot program to bring classroom libraries into schools in eight countries. Jen Daly, Room to Read Senior Program Associate for Reading Rooms, shares this story about a recent trip to Laos where she was evaluating some of our classroom libraries. 

***

The little boy thought he was being sneaky, but everyone knows teachers have eyes in the back of their heads. While most surreptitious student behavior involves chewing gum or passing notes, this teacher in Laos discovered something rather refreshing happening behind her back. 

Houa Keng Complete Primary School houses one of Room to Read’s 10 pilot classroom libraries in Laos. The classroom library allows teachers to more easily integrate books into their lesson plans and support recreational reading. Because children have easy access to the books, they are more likely to read them, as was made evident the day I visited this classroom.

One young boy obviously couldn’t wait to re-read his favorite book, Our New Pond, one of Room to Read's children's books. While the teacher stood in front of the classroom, the stealthy reader would slowly and quietly pull the book out of the cubby of his desk and continue reading the story, being careful to turn the pages gingerly so he wouldn’t be found out. Despite his best efforts at being sly, his teacher was well aware of what the young boy was up to. She repeatedly walked over and stood near him when he was reading, giving him a stern look. Each time, he would quickly shove the book back into his desk. Despite being caught red-handed, he was undeterred, and as soon as the teacher turned her back, out came the book once again.

After the class ended, the teacher explained how much the young boy had learned to love books and, in particular, really enjoyed Room to Read’s Local Language Publishing books. Our New Pond, a 2008 picture book about a group of animals who band together to find water for their pond, was his definite favorite. In fact, it was a rare occasion when the book was ever back on the library shelf!

She explained, “He loves animals, and I believe this is the first book he’s ever seen with animals he’s familiar with." Despite trying to keep the boy focused on the day’s lesson, she nevertheless found it amusing and encouraging to see him trying to sneak reading. "For many of my students, reading used to be almost a chore," she noted. "But now that we have the library in our classroom, the children can't wait to read -- some more than others!"

Room to Read has established over 800 libraries in Laos since 2007. Our Local Language Publishing program in Laos has produced 82 original children’s book titles, some of which have won national awards for excellence. To learn more about our work in Laos, visit our website.

Drawing a Line in the Sand on Literacy

Literacy is defined as "reading skill and reading habit," and it has the power to unlock doors to opportunity. As Room to Read focuses on enhancing literacy skills in the nine countries where we work, we're introducing literacy pilot programs that include additional teacher training, curriculum development and supplemental classroom materials. Joel Bacha, Room to Read's Southeast Asia Program Manager for Literacy, describes a visit to a school in Cambodia where our literacy pilots have been initiated.

Walking with the principal toward the grade 1 classroom at Tatouk Primary School in Siem Reap province, we notice several students watch our approach through an open window. The principal explains that the grade 1 reading program is different this year: the students are more active – from his office, he can hear them sing songs and play games, and overall they seem to be enjoying school more. In today’s class, there are about 40 students. The teacher asks for volunteers and half the class raises their hands. The teacher calls on one girl who comes to the front of the class and chooses a letter. She holds it up to the class, and everyone calls out the name of the letter, “Shri-la.”

After we observed the class for 10 minutes, the teacher had the students go outside and line up in two lines. She asked them to draw the letter shape they had just learned in the air. Then the students bent down to write the letter in the sand.  When they were finished, each student checked their neighbor’s work to see if they had drawn the letter correctly. For those who needed more help, the teacher provided extra guidance, and in some cases, the teacher directed students to help each other. To reinforce the lesson, students wiped the area in front of them clear and practiced writing the letter again in pairs.  Afterwards, they washed their hands, returned to the classroom and pulled out their notebooks. The teacher wrote the letter on the board several times and the students followed by writing the letter in their note books at their own pace.

The literacy program is seen as important in Siem Reap where a large percentage of students are not reading at grade level by the time they reach grade 3. The program aims to promote a balanced approach for teaching reading where students are exposed to phonics instruction and structured reading time. Part of the challenge has been the limited training for teachers and the complex Khmer script which students are expected to learn in a short amount of time.

Earlier this fall, 36 grade 1 teachers from 20 schools in the local school district participated in a Room to Read literacy teacher training. However, while many grade 1 teachers are used to teaching phonics, teaching reading is still new. The teachers were introduced to interactive teaching and learning methods for phonics, reading and writing in the Khmer language. One of the teachers commented, “The extra activities in the [My Reading] book are really helpful. The students are learning better [than last year] because they are interested in the activities. I thought that trying the “new” way would be difficult. It takes more time to try at first, but once I get used to the activities, it seems better for students.”

For more information about our pilot programs and our work in Cambodia, visit our website.

 

A Return to Laos: Guest Blog from Room to Read Donor

Elsa Brule became one of Room to Read’s most ardent supporters after a visit to Laos in 2009. This past summer, she and her husband visited eight of Room to Read’s country offices, including a return to their beloved Laos. Elsa shares the story of her connection to one Laotian girl -- a girl she never met, but who had a powerful effect on her life.

When we left Laos in February of 2009, I wondered if we'd ever return. It had been a momentous trip, and I remembered it fondly every time I passed by the carved Buddha in the foyer or saw the book about Luang Prabang on the coffee table. Occasionally I played the CD of a traditional song we'd heard so often.  Just for fun, I would dip and bend my hands to the music, making a "figure eight" in the Laotian way.  

And every day, for a solid year and a half, I glanced at two photos that are tucked askew in the letter holder on my desk -- photos of a young girl I do not know.

At the time of our visit, Room to Read had just started working in Oudomxay, the poorest province in Laos. As the field team sorted through a large pile of interviews and pictures of prospective candidates for the Girls’ Education program, the photos of one particular girl troubled Somphet, the Laos country director. The 14-year-old girl, "Souphe" (pronounced Soo-Pee), was standing in front of a home cobbled together of boards and tin. The lonely look on her face was haunting. Somphet sent me the photos as a sampling of what Room to Read was facing now that they were working in this remote area.

I studied the forlorn expression, but tried to comfort myself in the knowledge that she'd qualify for the Girls’ Education Program. Every few months I'd email Somphet for reassurance, but the last email I sent generated a disheartening response.

"What has happened with the young girl in the picture?" I asked.

"She is working in a roadside restaurant. Her father will not let her come to school," she replied. According to the team’s report, “This girl’s father ‘eats drugs.’  She must work to bring money.  Her mother is dead.  There is a younger brother and sister.  The girl has completed 5th grade and the father will not let her continue.” It is compulsory to attend school just until 5th grade, and the team felt helpless.

My heart sank.  It just didn't seem right that at 14, this girl's fate was so firmly set.

Somphet was determined to try yet again, using a different strategy. Instead of working on the father, perhaps encouraging the little girl to think for herself might yield a better result. The Room to Read staff gently explained to her that her father wasn't thinking clearly because of the drugs and that it was okay for her to take charge of her own life.

When we arrived in Vientiane last month, 18 months after my first visit, I was thrilled to see Somphet again.  We hugged, and within minutes I asked if there had been progress with the young girl.  She grinned and exclaimed, "Yes!  She is two weeks in the new school year!"  We shared a high-five moment.

We had two days crammed with school visits before celebrating Room to Read’s 10th anniversary with the local team.  But the night of the celebration, Somphet came to me and handed me a photo. My heart swelled. The photo was of the young girl, now 15, happily and proudly going to school with her new uniform and a new bike.  I hope to remember always the way I felt that instant of seeing the picture of her today. 

Sometimes we can reach hundreds, even thousands, and sometimes with tenacity, it's just one.

Read more about our Girls’ Education program on our website.