Room to Read Blog

Hitting Another Room to Read Milestone: 10 Million Reasons to Celebrate

Today, in the Tien Giang Province of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, Room to Read celebrated a milestone eleven years in the making.

At a ceremony held at Ngu Hiep 2 Primary School, founder John Wood and the Room to Read Vietnam team delivered a brand new box of books to the school’s library, symbolizing the 10 millionth book donated to our network of over 12,000 libraries in nine developing countries.

The emblematic book, Floating Market, is a Room to Read original title produced through our Local Language Publishing program, which comprise more than half of all books donated to date. It is also a “big book,” of which we’ve printed many in Vietnam—designed to help teachers and librarians facilitate shared reading activities.

The commemorative ceremony was indeed a moment of reflection and pride for our hard-working team, but most of all it was about the children we work with. The day’s festivities included literacy games, story time and a workshop lead by one of our talented illustrators, and attended by a bustling crowd of enthusiastic young readers.

Below are several photos of this morning’s ceremony, which we hope you’ll enjoy. After all, without our passionate community of supporters around the world, none of this would be possible. On behalf of the entire Room to Read family, thank you for joining us in our belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children, and for helping make it a reality.

 

 

Read the full press release related to our 10 millionth book milestone on our website.

New Year, New Beginnings: One Woman's Quest to Give the Girls in her Community a Fresh Start

Today in India marks the start of Diwali, a new year for many in the country. Each new year brings new beginnings, and so today we bring you the story of one women in Andhra Pradesh who has dedicated her life to helping girls in her community find theirs.

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For Ms. Prameela, helping girls and women overcome obstacles has always been a part of her everyday life. As an urban health worker for many years, she helped pregnant women and young mothers adopt a healthy lifestyle, but says that her work as a social mobilizer for our Girls’ Education program in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh is her greatest challenge yet.

“The mindset of parents who believe that girls should be kept at home and not educated is one of the biggest hurdles in the development of our society,” she says. “We have to systematically work at rooting this evil out.”

Patient and determined, Ms. Prameela works closely with school administration and village residents to build awareness around the consequences of child labor and early marriage. Her daily routine involves trips to the villages of Venkatapuram and Malkapuram to visit the girls she works with and check on their attendance and extracurricular participation. As a mentor for each girl, she says, “the key to charting a successful path for a girl is by transferring the decision-making ability to the girl herself.”

Ms. Prameela’s perseverance has already begun to pay off. At the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, 32% of girls in her district were below passing grades. That number has since been reduced to 4%, with eight of the girls having received an A+.

Despite the widespread success among her students, though, Ms. Prameela says there is still much work to be done. She recalls how one girl, Rangamma, was married off at just seven years old to a cousin. “After she got married, it was a big blow to her self esteem,” she says, adding that the girl became the target of teasing from her classmates and started missing school.

“I realized that being married was preventing her from getting equal opportunities and decided to give her special attention,” she shares. “I met with her parents, grandfather and husband many a times to convince them to let Rangamma continue her studies.”

Eventually, Rangamma’s family relented and allowed her to return to school, but their fear of being caught by the police for marrying her so young causes her attendance to fluctuate. “I try to tell her family that education is the only way they can move ahead in life,” says Ms. Prameela. “Rangamma has her own dreams for her future and I hope she is able to achieve them.”

Learn more about our Girls’ Education program and about our work in India.

Guest Blog from Bangladesh: Better Vision for a Better Education

This is a guest post from Zaki Hasan, country director for Room to Read Bangladesh.

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On a rainy morning in late September, a boat arrives on the shores of a small sandbar island in rural Bangladesh—filled to the brim with medical supplies, tools and doctors from a hospital in another district, which seems a world away.

Waiting patiently at a school nearby are over 100 girls from our Girls’ Education program, brought to the island from others in the region—each with an appointment to get their vision checked by a doctor for the very first time.

In this underserved part of Bangladesh, lack of access to basic medical facilities can severely hinder girls’ ability to attend school. Preventable or treatable diseases turn into chronic conditions, as most families are unable to afford the cost of transport to facilities in a larger city.

Recognizing the lack of health services as a real barrier to girls’ education in the region, our team decided to convene an “eye camp” at  one of the schools we work with, and connected with global health organization ORBIS to find the necessary supplies and personnel.

After hearing that none of the girls in our program had ever received a proper eye exam, ORBIS generously offered to fund the eye camp, and enlisted their partner—Mymensingh Eye Hospital outside of Dhaka, who agreed to handle the technical aspects.

The camp was scheduled to take place on an island called Solosoto Jangalia, but due to heavy rains, the medical team was forced to take shelter on another island along the way for most of the morning.

Luckily, 90 of the girls and their chaperones found themselves caught in the same storm, and waited out the rain on the same island.

Acting quickly, the lead doctor from Mymensingh decided to initiate “part one” of the camp immediately—setting up the equipment on the spot. When the storm let up later in the afternoon, the medical team, girls and Room to Read staff were able to complete their trip to Solosoto Jangalia, where over 100 more eager patients were waiting.

At the end of the day, 207 of our Girls’ Education program scholars had been examined by the medical team. Brand new glasses were provided to 12 girls, and 85 returned home with medicine for existing eye conditions in hand. For the seven girls in the group that will require further treatment, ORBIS has offered to provide the necessary care next month at their Pediatric Eye Care Center in Mymensingh free of charge.

It was a long day for all involved, but for the 207 girls who participated, one more barrier had been removed from the path to a quality education. As I headed home from the eye camp, I continued to reflect on the power of partnerships like this one with ORBIS to amplify the impact of our Girls’ Education program, and how one simple eye exam that day had changed some of the girls’ lives forever.

Learn more about our work in Bangladesh.

Two Girls in India Find Themselves on the Path to Success, with Help from 10,000 Women

Last week, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three groundbreaking women from developing countries for their role in advancing both peace and gender equality. All three are shining examples of the link between shared prosperity and greater gender equality in leadership.

But despite the progress made by women like Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman, leadership roles in the public and private sector still remain elusive for women in developing countries. For many young girls, especially those in rural or underserved communities, the paths to running one’s own business or earning a descent wage are riddled with roadblocks.  

“Why is it that only men open shops and sell medicines,” asks Shaheen, a 10^th grader from our Girls’ Education program who dreams of owning her own pharmacy. “I want to change that and help serve my community,” she shares at an entrepreneurial skills workshop held outside of New Delhi.

A recent addition to the life skills curriculum of our Girls’ Education program in India, the entrepreneurial skills workshops were developed in partnership with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, which which provides business and management education to underserved female entrepreneurs in developing and emerging markets.

For girls like Shaheen, the workshops, which include a four day sleep-away camp, provide a unique opportunity to explore career goals and gain the skills needed to achieve them. The participants meet with successful local entrepreneurs who help them navigate concepts such as financial literacy, effective leadership, partnership, resource mapping and market research.

One of Shaheen’s classmates, Monica, has also come away from the entrepreneurial skills workshops with a clear view of her future. “I want to open my own boutique,” she says with newfound confidence.

Monica had the chance to share her dream with US Ambassador Melanne Verveer, who promised to buy an Indian outfit from the boutique once it’s up and running. Monica explained that with her family’s support, she hopes to be able to build a business that not only provides her with a comfortable living, but also employs others in her community.

Because support from family is crucial to the girls’ success, the entrepreneurial skills workshops also include informational sessions and meet-ups for parents. “My daughter is very intelligent and listens to whatever we say,” shares Mrs. Monika, whose daughter, Sweta is in 11^th grade. “Thus it is our duty to support her to fulfill her dreams.”

Read more about our Girls' Education program and our work in India.

Show and Tell: Setting the Stage for Better Literacy Instruction in Bangladesh

This post is part of the ongoing series, Show and Tell, where we bring you photos and stories collected by Room to Read team members on the road. 

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Zaki Hasan, country director for Room to Read Bangladesh provided the photos for today’s Show and Tell, which features a recent round-table discussion on literacy that he and the rest of our Bangladesh team hosted in Dhaka last month. The discussion centered around the teaching of the Bengala language in primary schools and resulted in a list of recommendations from the participants regarding education policy, curriculum, material development, assessment, school culture and teacher training. Dhir Jhingran, Room to Read's chief program officer, attended the event as keynote speaker.

In Honor of World Teachers' Day: Celebrating One Teacher's Success Motivating Young Readers in Laos

World Teachers' Day, celebrated each year on October 5, was established by UNESCO in 1994 to recognize the vital contribution that teachers make to education and development.

In honor of World Teachers' Day today, we bring you the story of one teacher in Laos dedicated to ensuring her students gain the literacy skills necessary to succeed in the classroom and beyond. She is one of hundreds of teachers participating in our Literacy Instruction program across Asia and Southern Africa, all of whom we celebrate today.

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In many cases, our Literacy Instruction program finds teachers a little nervous to break away from established teaching methods and experiment with something new—especially given the existing academic targets they are already working towards for the year. There are exceptions to every rule however, and Phoukham Bounthavy is one of them.

Ms. Bounthavy is a teacher at Sengsavang Complete Primary School in an urban village of northwest Laos, and since her very first Room to Read training session has been enthusiastic about participating in the program.

Having joined during the program’s pilot phase, Ms. Bounthavy was convinced right away that introducing new teaching methods into her classroom would help improve her students’ budding literacy skills.

After her training, Ms. Bounthavy returned to school, armed with colorful posters, charts, flash cards and books to help turn her classroom into a more effective learning environment. “The children took to the new curriculum like ducks to water,” she says with newfound confidence, noting that in particular the activity-based teaching kept her students engaged throughout the duration of the lesson—their hands flying in the air to answer questions.

“For me, the most important thing is that the children learn,” she told our staff when they visited her classroom.

Always eager to improve, she prodded them, “if you find that I’m not doing something correctly, please let me know—I’m not afraid of criticism.”

It wasn’t long before her willingness to try new things began paying dividends. Almost without exception, her students became more confident in their mastery of the alphabet, and seemed to enjoy their lessons more. At the end of the year when the time for student evaluations came, her class of young readers was ranked the best in the school.

“I am very happy that I was included in the Literacy Pilot program” says Ms. Bounthavy. “I have become a better instructor and now have more confidence that my students understand the lessons.”

Learn more about our Literacy Instruction program and about our work in Laos.

Six Short Weeks: Room to Read’s First Ever (Mini) Film Festival!

Over the past year, documentary filmmakers James Connolly and Rachelle Escaravage visited Room to Read projects throughout Asia. They met the children and communities that are benefitting from our programs, and recorded their stories on film.

Now those stories are the subject of six mini-documentaries, each focusing on one aspect of Room to Read’s work promoting literacy and gender equality in education. Over the next six weeks, we’ll be releasing those videos one at a time—providing you with a closer look at our programs than ever before.

The videos will take you to India, Laos, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, inside the libraries, homes, classrooms and communities of the children we serve. So grab some popcorn, press play and enjoy the show!

 Watch the videos on our website.