Room to Read Blog

'Tis the Season: Room to Read Benefits from Financial Times Seasonal Giving Campaign

LONDON: 'Tis the season to be thankful and Room to Read certainly has much to be grateful for!

I’m now in London for the kick-off of the Financial Times’ annual seasonal giving campaign that this year benefits Room to Read and it's been a whirlwind of activity and excitement!

In case you haven't heard, we were chosen as the Financial Times' charity partner for its 2009-2010 seasonal appeal in a vote by 1,600 FT employees worldwide. Read the official press release here.

Also as part of the launch, tonight in London I joined the Financial Times CEO John Ridding, Room to Read Board Member Dambisa Moyo, our UK Advisory board and staff, our corporate sponsors, and many others, at a celebration of our partnership at the elegant Quintessentially Soho at the House of St Barnabas. The evening included our first generous donor commitment to fund a school in Nepal as part of the campaign! We hope to replicate that success and enthusiasm at other launch events with the FT that are planned for Hong Kong and New York in early December.

Just as exciting is that starting today and through mid-January, the Financial Times will run print and online stories as well as public service announcements on behalf of Room to Read to raise money and increase awareness of our work. The first story, All sitting comfortably? by FT Asia editor, David Pilling, hit news stands this morning and paints a great picture of our work in Laos.  We will be posting all the upcoming stories and videos at www.roomtoread.org/FT as well as www.FT.com/appeal throughout December.

 
FINALLY, all donations made to the campaign (up to US$1 million) will be matched dollar for dollar and pound for pound thanks to the generosity of three of Room to Read's corporate donors: Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Atlassian.

It goes without saying that Room to Read is truly honored to be the selected beneficiary for this Financial Times campaign and we will do all that we can to reach our goal of raising US$2 million over the next 8 weeks. Millions of children are counting on us!

To make it easy, we are accepting donations in seven different currencies to make sure everyone who wants to support this campaign can. Visit www.roomtoread.org/FT and consider making a gift that will give more children the chance to learn.

We want this to be the most successful appeal in Financial Times’ history and we appreciate anything you can do to help us to accomplish this dream through the incredible networks that you bring to Room to Read!

-- John Wood, founder and executive chairman of Room to Read

P.S.To mark the launch, the Financial Times and Quintessentially are also holding an Online Charity Auction through eBay where you can bid on some exclusive luxury and money-can't-buy items such as: a rare signed auction booklet for J.K Rowling’s ‘The Tale of Beedle the Bard’, your name as character in a future novel by bestselling writer Adele Parks, a holiday for two at the Half Moon Resort in Jamaica, and an elite membership to Quintessentially for one year.  Bidding has already started and goes through November 30 at http://www.quintessentially.com/auction/.   Happy bidding!

Getting Connected: Qualcomm and Room to Read Launch the School Wireless Computer Lab Pilot in Nepal and Vietnam

Just yesterday, Room to Read launched a special pilot project called the “School Wireless Computer Lab” with the help of Qualcomm Wireless Reach that connected schools in Vietnam and Nepal to the Internet – for the first time!   John Wood and others on the Room to Read team were witness to the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Shree Amarjyoti Gaunpharka Secondary School in the Kaski district of Nepal.  John was joined by representatives from Qualcomm, Nepal Telecom, the Secretary of the Nepal Ministry of Education, students and community members.  They all watched in amazement as students discovered what the Internet is all about and how it can act as a resource and educational tool for their future.

“Who is the 44th President of the United States?” asked John.  Quickly, students went to Google or another search engine to find out the answer.  “Obama!  Obama!” shouted the children with delight.  “What is the time in Sydney, Australia?”  Fingers scurried to find the correct keys and soon hands went up.  “5pm!  5pm!”  Students also met new friends at another school in Nepal through a Skype video chat. 

Each lab includes 20-25 computers that will serve as many as 50 students during a class period.  Outside of school sessions, the lab will be opened for the community so they can learn from it as well.   The community, through Room to Read’s challenge grant, has a stake in the project’s success because we required each school establish a Computer Lab Development Fund.  For each computer in the lab, a school must deposit $1,500 Nepalese Rupees (NR), which translates to approximately $20USD.  Therefore, the Shree Amariyoti School raised on their own $30,000 NR ($400 USD).  This money goes into savings account managed by the Computer Lab Management Committee so that the community can be responsible for and afford lab management and equipment maintenance after Room to Read’s support ends.  Amariyoti raised this money through fundraising activities like going door-to-door to collect contributions, sponsoring cultural events, and appealing for funding through the local temples.  While this is a challenge for any community, including Amariyoti, their success means they feel personally invested in the project and are owners toward its success.

In addition to providing training for students to learn basic computer skills through a government-sanctioned curriculum that Room to Read developed, each lab will use technology to teach other subjects such as English, math and science.

The pilot established five wireless labs in the Kaski and Kavre regions of Nepal and six in Can Tho Province of southern Vietnam because it’s in these regions where landline access is limited or unreliable.  By providing affordable and high-quality Internet connectivity to government schools, these wireless lab pilots will help underserved students bridge the digital divide and addresses the goal of universal access and opportunity in education.  In Nepal, all the labs were established in schools where Room to Read was already working. For example, at Shree Anarjyoti, we had already been working in the community and provided them a Reading Room library in 2007.  With the added value of a wireless lab, these students will be able to check out and learn from the over 2,000 library books and then continue to research and learn more on a subject that peaks their interest through the Internet.

Thank you Qualcomm!

To learn more about our pilot projects, click here.