Room to Read Blog

Guest Blog: Celebrating Reading Day and the Power of Life Skills in Vietnam

Kim Anstatt Morton is a longtime Room to Read supporter and member of our global Board of Directors.

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In early December, I had the honor of traveling to Vietnam's Mekong Delta to visit Room to Read's Literacy and Gender Equality programs. Erin Ganju, Room to Read's CEO, our Vietnam team, eleven other supporters and I gathered in Ho Chi Minh City at the superb Park Hyatt Saigon. After delicious pho for breakfast (and some of the best French pastries I have ever had), we forged our way through the sea of motorcycles to the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City to visit three girls in our Girls Education program. Then we drove 5 hours out into remote and poverty-stricken Can Tho Province, where the Mekong River divides the land like fingers on a hand until it empties into the East Sea (South China Sea). 

Our group was here to see firsthand the challenges facing these families and communities and how Room to Read's programs over the last 11 years are making positive, measurable change in the lives of children. As a Room to Read board member and longtime supporter, I love tracking results and seeing impact numbers and am proud of the efficiency and scale of Room to Read's work on paper, but nothing compares to being in the field with the children and communities who benefit from our programs. Below are two highlights from the trek and a few photos.

Visiting the students from our Girls’ Education program in their homes is an emotional experience. You do not leave the same as you came. Phuong—one of the girls I met on this trip—is a strong and stoic 18 year old in 10^th grade who has been supported by Room to Read since 2009. We climbed on motorcycles and wound along tiny paths over rickety bridges to get to her home in rural Long An province (where Half the Sky was filmed).

Phuong’s father died when she was four years old, and her mother passed a way after a boating accident a few years ago, leaving Phuong as the head of her household of four, including her mentally disabled sister and her sister's baby boy. In order to support her family, Phuong beads slippers in her small frond-covered shack along a Mekong tributary. She beads for eight hours aday, 5-6 days per week, making 10 pairs of slippers every day. All this effort amounts to a meager income of around US$1.50/day. But the amazing part about Phuong is that she refuses to drop out of school. 

On top of all that work, Phuong eagerly attends the afternoon shift of school and Room to Read's life skills workshops. She says the trainings are her favorite part of the Girls’ Education program. Specifically, she pointed to the financial budgeting training and explained how it helps her manage her household.

Phuong also loves learning and practicing her communication skills so she can be "more confident and raise [her] opinions". Phuong loves to run and wants to be a gym teacher after going to University. When we asked how else Room to Read could help her, Phuong graciously replied, "you are doing so much, there is nothing else I need—Room to Read is a very positive part of my life."  

Each of the girls we visited in their homes, like Phuong, are inspirational. Most notable was their extreme confidence despite dire circumstances and their clear message that without Room to Read (and in particular the life skills workshops we provide), they would never imagine themselves as the literature prize-winning, confident, university bound students they have become.

See more photos from the trip, including an exciting Reading Day celebration:

 

Show and Tell: Cricket Star Angelo Mathews Becomes the Character in New Children's Book, with Help from Room to Read

Cricket superstar Angelo Mathews is used to being at the center of attention, but last week the co-captain of the Sri Lanka team gained a new form of notoriety as the protagonist of a children's book published by Room to Read.

Funded by the International Cricket Council, Little Angelo's Big Day tells the story in Sinhala and Tamil of 10-year-old Angelo, who goes to watch his father play a friendly cricket match. After one of the player's becomes ill, it is up to Little Angelo to join the game and score the final run.

The book was launched in a ceremony at the Sri Lanka Foundation in Colombo on August 13. In attendance were 36 students from our partner schools, including several girls from our Girls' Education program in Hatton who have formed their very own cricket team (and won the under 16 tournament).

After the book had been revealed, Angelo read aloud from another Room to Read title and joined an illustration workshop with the students. He then fielded questions from the inquisitive crowd. "I wanted to be an artist and paint nice pictures," he said of his school days, "but my favorite subject was Mathematics."

When asked about his involvement with Room to Read, Angelo had this to say: “Let us do our level best for improving the literacy levels in this country.”

Learn more about our Book Publishing program.

Supporters Turn to Endurance Sports to Fuel Global Movement for Education

At Room to Read, we are constantly inspired by the creative, clever and sometimes crazy ways that individuals find to raise funds and awareness for our programs—from bake sales to book swaps, marathons to mountain climbing, we have seen it all!

This year in particular, Room to Read supporters around the globe are turning to endurance events to galvanize support for our mission in their communities. Over the next few months, adrenaline-fueled teams from Hong Kong, Sydney, Switzerland and New York City will run, walk, bike and climb their way to world change. Here are a few of those extraordinary stories:

Sydney City2Surf

In 2009—the year Room to Read’s first Australian chapter was established in Sydney—a few volunteers decided to run the City2Surf 14-kilometer race as s social activity. In 2010, they took it to the next level, gathering a team of more than 100 runners who raised over AU$30,000 for two straight years.

This year, the team—dubbed the Yak Pack (in honor of our good friend Zak the Yak)—is at it again, and has even recruited a local celebrity to join them  for this year’s race on August 12. Actor Pacharo Mzembe ran across the entire continent of Australia earlier this year to raise funds and awareness for literacy, and now he’s putting his running shoes back on to join the Yack Pack in their fourth year at the City2Surf. “I'm all about showing my appreciation for the quality education I received having come from a developing nation,” said Pacharo. “There are children around the world who are not afforded the same opportunity."

Jungfrau Marathon

Inspired by their counterparts Down Under, a few members of the Room to Read Zurich Chapter assembled their own Yak Pack this year to run the Jungfrau Marathon in the Swiss Alps. In addition to longtime friends of Room to Read, some of our very own staff will participate in the event, including founder John Wood and regional director for Asia Jon Beaulieu!

The steepest race of its kind, the course of the Jungfrau Marathon includes more than a mile of elevation. In order to keep motivated, the team has challenged themselves to raise enough money for at least one year of girls’ education for each kilometer they run, or as John Wood puts it, "no matter how much pain we're in, each kilometer we'll think to ourselves, 'one more girl goes to school.'"

Vietnam Bike Adventure

After reading John Wood’s book Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, Ashwin Subramaniam of Singapore knew he wanted to make a difference, but wasn’t sure how. The answer came in the form of a bicycle, which he will ride across Vietnam this November—along with 15 others—in support of Room to Read's Girls’ Education program.

Winding up the Vietnamese coast from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, Ashwin and his fellow travelers will hit the road for nine days and document their journey on film. "This idea was born out of my dual passions for adventure sports and social development," says Ashwin.

Inspired to start your own campaign for Room to Read? Find out how!

Guest Blog from Dr. Molly Teas: Celebrating Solutions that Work at the Women in the World Summit

The following is a guest post from Dr. Molly Maguire Teas, Senior Advisor for Education for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of South & Central Asian Affairs.

I am writing today from the Women in the World Summit put on by Newsweek & The Daily Beast in New York City. The event has a special significance for me because one of the featured participants is a young Nepali woman named Suma Tharu. Suma is one of the 1,200 young female scholars that my Bureau has supported through our partnership with Room to Read.  10x10, a global action campaign and groundbreaking film, brought Suma to New York for the Women in the World Summit to share her story.

Suma was originally slated to sing a song she wrote on the last day of the event. But, after hearing Suma rehearse, Tina Brown, the Founder of the Women in the World Summit, decided to change the entire agenda and add Suma’s song to the opening of the event as well.

It was a fitting beginning. Suma sang about her life as a Nepali girl who was sold into indentured servitude by her own family. After six years of work, a non-governmental organization rescued her, and Room to Read provided her with a scholarship and the associated tutoring, mentoring and life skills training she needed to enroll in school and reclaim her right to a dignified life. While her song broke the collective hearts of the audience when she sang, “Mother, why did you give birth to a daughter? Did you want to see me suffer?”, her confidence, her clarity about how education has changed her life, and her commitment to make life better for other girls inspired us all.

Meeting Suma before the event began was a joy for me for many reasons. One reason was the simple fact that Suma not only survived her ordeal but is clearly thriving and loving her new life and identity as a “pardeko keti” or school girl. Those who have read my previous DipNote blogs on State.gov know that I began my career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal nearly thirty years ago. At that time, I worked as a science teacher in a remote mountain village school with no electricity, water or latrine. Suma reminded me of the tiny group of girls in my village who managed to stay in school all the way to sixth grade, and who, despite long treks to and from their homes and the almost total lack of books and materials, were so thrilled to be in school that they, like Suma today, positively glowed. It was that small group of girls what also inspired me to commit the rest of my professional life to improving schools and education for girls.

In a most befitting way, Secretary Clinton, in her closing remarks at the Summit, highlighted Suma and the support that State Department’s SCA Bureau provided in changing her life and the lives of many like her. The inspiring image of Suma interacting with the Secretary of State and Oscar-award-winning actress Meryl Streep back stage is a symbol of what is possible when girls and women are empowered. 

The State Department is clearly committed to ensuring that girls’ education programs like Room to Read’s are expanded, and we are shining a spotlight on stories like Suma’s, so that others will witness the power of education and be motivated to support proven solutions that are advancing education for girls around the world.

Learn more about Suma's story and how you can help girls like her across Asia and Africa at www.roomtoread.org/meetsuma

Show and Tell: A Warm Welcome in Nepal

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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This week's Show and Tell comes from Eric Krassow, local-language publishing fellow. Eric is a leading editor from Pearson, currently "on-loan" to Room to Read exploring potential enhancements to our Book Publishing program around the globe. During a recent site visit in Nepal, Eric had the chance to meet a classroom full of eager young readers at Shree Kalika Primary School. He sent along this video of the welcome dance performed in his honor:

 

Learn more about our Book Publishing program, or find out how you can visit our work in person.

Students in Dubai Serve Up World Change at “Room to Read Café”

At Room to Read, we believe that everyone has a role to play in promoting literacy and gender equality in education in developing countries. To that end, we work with youth from around the globe who want to do their part by helping them raise awareness and funds in their own community to support Room to Read’s work in Asia and Africa. This Students Helping Students program, as we call it, now spans across 30 countries, and more than 600 student teams have supported our cause since 2004. From Girl Scouts to graduate students, these teams are made up of passionate advocates and rock star fundraisers—having raised more than US$360,000 for our work in 2011 alone.

One of our most active teams, from the American School of Dubai, recently wrapped up their 2011 fundraising efforts to the tune of over US$10,000! Read on to learn how they managed such an impressive feat and what made them want to be involved with Room to Read in the first place.

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Club Room to Read at the American School of Dubai (ASD) has been very busy the last few months. Students of all ages are standing up for literacy and gender equality in education, and seeing some serious results. Last year alone they raised US$10,000—one of our biggest student donations of the year!

One secret to their success is their innovative “Room to Read Café” fundraiser. About 5 times a year, ASD student plan and staff “Café Days” held at a local establishment.  The students design special menu offerings and assist wait staff in serving clientele. For their efforts, a portion of the day’s proceeds are donated to Room to Read.

In addition to these Café Days, ASD students have also hosted a number of other events, including book sales, talent shows, competitive stacking games and a writing competition—all to celebrate literacy and support our work in Asia and Africa!

ASD students say they support Room to Read because the organization’s mission aligns with something they are personally passionate about: educating those who are less fortunate.

“Your education is something nobody can ever take away from you; it’s yours to keep”, says student Andrea Izem Yener. Participating in Students Helping Students, she says, “has definitely made me appreciate what I have more.”

Congratulations to all of our ASD student supporters and a special shout out to writing contest winners Anjika Bhatnagar, Amaar Qureshi, Olivia Quern and Rohan Khanna. All of your hard work and energetic support is helping Room to Read to change the lives of millions of students in Asia and Africa!

Stay up to date with the latest information about Students Helping Students on Facebook.

Making Wishes Come True: A Message of Thanks

A noted American historian once said, “Education is essential to change, for education creates both new wants and the ability to satisfy them.”  We couldn’t agree more!

In addition to helping children become independent readers and lifelong learners, one of the greatest benefits of a quality education is its power to expand children’s minds to a world of possibilities they never knew existed. Thanks to your support, six million children across the developing world now have access to such educational opportunities, and for this we couldn’t thank you enough.

But you don’t have to take our word for it…we met up with some of the children we work with (and their parents) to hear what they wish for now that they are getting the education they’ll need to turn their dreams into reality.

So sit back, press play and get ready to meet some of the young people whose lives have been forever changed thanks to you. From all of us at Room to Read, thank you for helping make wishes come true.

 

And for those of you still busily engaged in holiday shopping, don’t forget about our Holiday Wish List! Each gift you make in someone’s honor comes with a customizable e-card, and thanks to a few longtime Room to Read supporters, your gift will be matched up to $700,000! Unwrap World Change this holiday season, and start the new year off right.

Learn more about our programs and where we work.

Why I'm Lucky: Guest Blog by Eight-Year-Old Jazmin Zage

Transcription: My name is Jazmin Annabelle Aiko Zage. I am 8 years old. I am American and live in Singapore. On November 3rd, 2011 I went to Cambodia with my family to visit schools and libraries that were built by Room to Read. When I visited a school I realized how lucky I was. I learned that most schools don't have libraries or many books. It made me think of my huge library at the Singapore American School. I thought I was very lucky that my mom and dad have enough money to send me to such a good school.

I noticed that the kids at the school were very happy even though they didn't have much. The children were very friendly. I got to go into a classroom and participate in their writing lesson. One of the students taught me how to write Cambodian words.

I think Room to Read has really helped these Cambodian children. But there are still so many children to help.

Learn more about our Students Helping Students program, or how you can visit our work in person.

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.

Guest Blog from John Wood: Kicking off the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative

The excitement is palpable as the world descends upon New York for today’s opening of the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). I’ve been lucky enough to attend CGI on behalf of Room to Read for the past five years, and now sit on CGI’s Advisory Board. Every year I’m in awe of how the forum has turned into a catalyst for game-changing partnership and collaboration in the field of international development. Each year, I leave with new connections and new ideas that we have been able to implement to make a difference for millions of children across the developing world.

This year’s CGI will be no different. Room to Read will unveil an innovative report, the inspiration for which was born at a meeting convened by CGI last spring. At the meeting, Cory Heyman, our chief program officer, met with representatives from FHI 360 and Amenons Nos Filles á l’Ecole (ANFE), two other nonprofits working in the field of girls’ education. Despite the multitude of organizations around the world dedicated to girls’ education, they noted, there has been very little research dedicated to identifying the factors that contribute to girls’ success in reaching higher education.

Together they questioned: If we know that gender bias, safety concerns, early marriage, pregnancy and financial disadvantage are major roadblocks to tertiary education, then what are the success factors that can help girls in the developing world overcome them? In other words—let’s not focus on the barriers, let’s learn about the real-world solutions that actually work.

As the idea for a study identifying such factors began to take shape, The MasterCard Foundation, with whom we first connected at CGI 2010, stepped in to provide guidance and financial support—kicking off six months of rigorous research.

The fact is, even under the most challenging conditions, there are young women across the developing world charting new territory and taking the bold step of seeking higher education. We wanted to hear from them—in their own words—about the factors that were positively contributing to their success.

Our team conducted in-person interviews with 160 of these trailblazing young women in Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India and Mauritania, and found that despite political, cultural, and economic differences between their communities, the girls identified very similar success factors as being instrumental in their ability to reach university.

The young women we met shared personal stories that illuminated their common attributes of determination and courage. Many cited the encouragement of their families, teachers and communities as being paramount to their success, coupled with the material and emotional support they'd received from nonprofit organizations.

For Room to Read, these findings will help shape our Girls’ Education program curriculum, which we’ve built out over the years to go beyond financial support and to include extensive life skills training and mentoring as well as family and community engagement.

By releasing the final report at this year’s CGI Annual Meeting, we hope that these girls’ voices can reach across borders and help shape best practices in the field of girls’ education for years to come.

Read the complete report, Through Their Eyes, In Their Voices: Young women in five countries share their experiences navigating tertiary education, on our website.

Tune in tomorrow at 3:20pm EST to watch John Wood answer your questions live from CGI in an interview with Randi Zuckerberg broadcast on Facebook.