Room to Read Blog

Are You a Member of the Conspiracy For Good?

We have to admit, we were intrigued when we were invited to join something called the Conspiracy For Good (CFG) –- a first-of-its-kind interactive experience from the imaginative and Emmy award-winning mind of “Heroes” creator, Tim Kring. To hear him describe the project in his own words, click here.

The idea was to combine Tim’s storytelling abilities with Nokia's Ovi platform to create a dynamic experience using interactive theatre, mobile and alternate reality gaming and more, to empower you, the audience, to take real-life action and create positive change in the world. It’s a unique blending of fact and fiction that they call "Social Benefit Storytelling."

If you haven't yet been following the conspiracy, since June, users from all over the world have been logging on to www.ConspiracyForGood.com and following the interactive mystery of a school library in the village of Chataika, Zambia, where a teacher (Nadirah) has gone missing, a shipment of books has been hijacked and a shady corporation may be behind it all. Sound intriguing yet? Followers are playing along and uncovering clues online that are furthering the narrative, and in doing so, they are helping to eventually build a real-life library stocked with children’s books.

Confused? Stay with us because here’s where we come in…

Uniquely interwoven into the fictional plot, Room to Read has become part of the Conspiracy For Good storyline operating alongside Nadirah, the main character, and the CFG collective, or secret "members” that are fighting the forces of social and environmental injustice. The good news is that in the narrative, when the books are found and Nadirah is located thanks to the Conspiracy for Good, Nokia will establish five real-life Room to Read libraries in Zambia, including one to be built at the Chataika Basic School (which really exists!). Plus, Nokia will fund the education of 50 Girls’ Education Program scholars in the country.

The "real" books for the new libraries will be furnished by Room to Read’s long-time partner, the Pearson Foundation, an organization that has teamed up with Nokia to establish a one-for-one giving campaign, whereby a new English-language book will be donated to a Room to Read library for every digital book read online at www.wegivebooks.com.

Catch up on the storyline here and join the conspiracy today to follow the clues and see if you can figure out what's next as the plot thickens.

And don't think we haven't had some fun with this as well! Already some ingenious trackers have cornered Room to Read Founder John Wood to get to the bottom of things. Here's what he had to say about the Chataika situation and being a Conspiracy For Good "member" ;)

To read the official press release, click here

Guest Blog from CEO Erin Ganju: Through the Eyes of a Child

This guest blog is from Erin Ganju, Room to Read’s CEO, who is currently traveling through Asia with her daughter and mother to visit several Room to Read's offices and educational projects.  This entry is from Vietnam, where Room to Read has been working since 2001 and was in fact, the country that brought Erin to Room to Read.  After living in Ho Chi Minh City for more than two years, Erin developed a passion for the development of Vietnam and managed the launch of Room to Read in Vietnam, which marked Room to Read's first operation outside of Nepal.

***

Seeing your work through the eyes of your child can be an invaluable lesson in perspective. Last week, my four-and-a-half year-old daughter, Julia, joined me for her first visit to a Room to Read library, and as we drove up to Long Hoa Primary School in Tien Giang Province in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, she yelled out, “Yeah, Room to Read!” while pumping her hands in the air. Her enthusiasm was contagious and stirred up mine -- albeit a little less vocally.

As the van stopped in front of the school gates, we could see children lined up with flowers for us, along with the mandatory Vietnamese drum corps ready to alert the entire neighborhood that we had arrived. Our hands filled with flowers, we were then treated to a dance routine by the children and songs by the teachers about the value of education. I’ve had the honor of being part of these elaborate welcoming ceremonies dozens of times, but to see the twinkle in Julia’s eyes and her excited clapping at the end of each performance reminded me how special these events really are.

We were here attending one of Room to Read’s "Reading Summer Camps" in Vietnam, a new program designed by our Vietnam library team. The camps are designed to gently ease kids back to school for a few hours each day during the summer with a mixture of reading skill practice and fun activities. We spent a wonderful couple of hours exchanging drawings with some kids, reading aloud to a group of children in the library and then having them do the same for us, and teaching each other songs. The Itsy Bitsy Spider was a big hit! 

When I later asked Julia what she thought of the school and how it differed from her school in San Francisco, she replied, “Those girls dancing got to wear make-up to school.” (Yes, I have a four-and-a-half year-old going on sixteen.) Then she said, “They sure do have fun in school here.” I explained how it was summer camp, and that actual school was much more serious.

I then realized that Julia and I didn’t see the school in the same way. I walk into schools and think about how much more we need to do and all the things that can be improved. But for Julia, it was not about the physical environment, but the experience. And I was excited to think that, like Julia, maybe these students in Vietnam were returning home every day telling their parents, siblings and neighbors that school is fun and that they can’t wait to go back. From the perspective of a child (and her mother), that is success and something to celebrate!

To learn more about our programs in Vietnam, click here. 

Story from India: School's Out for Summer but the Reading Continues

In the Northern Hemisphere, this week we celebrate that magical turn of seasons -- when nightfall comes later, allowing us maximum daylight time for favorite activities. Summer reading is at the top of many to-do lists, no matter the location, for reading’s appeal is universal.

In Tikamgarh, a district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, children are struggling to find Summer activities that allow them more time for learning and discovery. During the school year, the students spend countless hours in the libraries established by Room to Read in their schools. However, once school is out for the summer, there is a dearth of reading materials and activity for children -- a matter that used to be the cause of great concern to parents trying to keep their children entertained and out of mischief.

Fortunately, Room to Read recently began a Summer library program in Tikamgarh to provide children with an outlet for reading and continued learning during the hot summer months. Part of this program involved Room to Read staff carefully selecting one enthusiastic child in every village and training them to run a mini-library in his/her own home for two months.

One girl librarian, who has herself published a story in a children’s magazine, reported that every morning she goes door to door distributing books to children, collecting them back in the afternoon. “I even go to those children’s houses who cannot read so that they at least learn to handle a book. I tell every child to handle the book very carefully.”

Though the home libraries are very modest, often tucked away near the family’s annual grain store or bedding, they contain printed treasures that the village children eagerly check out and faithfully return.

A five-minute conversation with these young librarians leaves no doubt that they are helping to create a critical social movement. These children have emerged as leaders who, in their innocent ways, keep the idea of reading books alive in the community year-round.

To learn more about our Reading Room program, click here.

We’re Already a Winner on South Africa’s Pitch

Today, the eyes of the world are upon South Africa as football (soccer) fans descend on the country for the kickoff of the 2010 FIFA World Cup competition. It’s the first time this worldwide sporting event has been hosted by an African nation, so it’s a big deal! We’d also be remiss if we didn’t offer our congratulations to the people of South Africa, especially our Room to Read South Africa team whom we hope can enjoy some of the festivities!
 
But, there are other – smaller varieties – of competitions that happen around South Africa and in honor of the World Cup, we wanted to share our own “competition” story. This one, however, is not about who takes home a coveted trophy but about who wins the battle for the best school library.

Just a few weeks ago, over 300 people in the Mpumalange province – an agricultural region located far and away from the urban landscapes of Johannesburg and Cape Town – gathered at an awards ceremony hosted by the provincial Department of Education to recognize the achievements of several local school libraries.

The government surveyed more than 200 schools in the province to present awards in categories such as “Best Improved Library,” “Best Library Monitor,” and “Best Librarian.” It’s an annual presentation by the Department of Education to support and promote the utilization of local libraries by children, families and the community at large.

Room to Read was thrilled to learn that many of the schools honored at the event have active Reading Rooms that were established by Room to Read. Even more exciting was news that two schools – Kennen Primary School (supported by Sterling Brands) and Ehlanzeni Siyakhula – scooped up the award for “School Library of the Year” in their respective regions.

Teachers and students around South Africa who now have a library thanks to Room to Read have been sending us their words of thanks. Miss Prudence Ntimba, a librarian and teacher, commented, “Our school is located in a remote area…there is a high illiteracy level in our community. Room to Read provided us with books and library furniture and we are very grateful. My students can now read with confidence in front of other students and their self-esteem has improved. Thank you for making me realize my dream to bring something good for my community.”

Talk about more feathers to add to South Africa’s cap!

For more information about Room to Read in South Africa, click here.

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!

Trek to 10,000: Day 6 - Cutting the Ribbon on our 10,000th Library!

 

POKHARA: At Room to Read, we talk frequently about milestones because we’re committed to a performance-driven culture.  Today is a very momentous and proud day in our history as we celebrate another milestone: the opening of our 10,000th library!

I wish you could have been here to witness the festivities that took place at the Shree Janakalyan Secondary School, which is close to Pokhara and in the shadows of the majestic Annapurna Mountain range.  Over 1,000 people turned up to celebrate the opening of the new 175 square foot free-standing library building, including the 400+ students who will now have access, six hours per day, to their new collection of brightly-colored children’s books, games, puzzles, posters, and many other educational tools designed to help make this library a living, breathing ecosystem full of children experiencing the joy of reading and learning.

This achievement was not just an achievement for me but it was an achievement for all of us -– for our staff that has worked tirelessly over these past ten years to enable us to reach this point, for our partners who work with us locally in this critical mission, and for our investors and fund-raising chapter members worldwide who have helped us to create a global movement to bring change to the world through education.  I am not sure if you can see this in the photo posted above but this library is dedicated to all of YOU!  The following is the language on the plaque that welcomes children into the library:

Room to Read's 10,000th library is dedicated to the millions of children who now enjoy reading books every day thanks to the well-stocked libraries in their villages.  What began in Nepal 10 years ago has now become a global network of libraries, made possible by a dedicated partnership between the community, Room to Read and its committed employees and chapter leaders, and the many generous investors who believe strongly that World Change Starts with Educated Children.

This “Trek to 10,000” that we’ve all taken part in over the past week has indeed brought us full circle, but it also starts a new chapter in our story.  While it started as my story at the Shree Chandradoya High School in Bahundanda -- where, along with my father, I delivered 3,000 donated English-language books via a “donkey train” -– is now a story about how all of us together have cut the ribbon for our 10,000th library and the difference we’ll make in the years ahead.   

Speaking of the years ahead, this morning’s ceremony also affirmed Room to Read’s commitment to literacy and gender equality in education for our future with the goal of reaching ten million children by 2015.  And we’re definitely on track to get there!  We’re currently opening, on average, 6 libraries a day in the developing world -– that’s 3,000 kids every day who gain access to a library with the tools that will help them become independent readers. 

It’s been amazing ten years and our “year of tens” has only just begun.  We’ve already opened our 1,000th school, and soon, we’ll be supporting our 10,000th girl in our Girls’ Education program!

Thanks for joining with us on this Trek to 10,000.  We hope you’ll continue trekking with us as we reach even higher.

-- John

Click here to read our News Release about the tenth anniversary, and 10,000th library.

For tweets, photos, videos and much more from the 10th anniversary trek, go to www.roomtoread.org/trektotenthousand.

Guest blog by John Wood: Lucky Number Ten

In January 2000, an exciting piece of news showed up in my mailbox in San Francisco, courtesy of the Internal Revenue Service.  

Exciting news? From the IRS? Actually, yes. Inside that envelope was the news that my dream had been realized -– the approval of incorporation for a new and badly-named charity called Books for Nepal.

Ten years later, the organization now known as Room to Read has achieved far more than I ever dreamed possible. Thanks to the passion and dedication of so many of us who believe that World Change Starts with Educated Children, we are now able to celebrate what we think of as “the year of tens.” 

During our ten year anniversary year, we will grow our Girls’ Education program so that it supports the education of over 10,000 girls. We have already opened our 1,000th school, and quite soon -– in fact just next week -– we will celebrate the opening of our 10,000th Reading Room library! 

As a person whose life was profoundly influenced by the libraries in my school and my home town, I cannot think of a happier set of numbers than these: over 4 million children visiting 10,000 libraries stocked with over 7 million books.

The 10,000th Reading Room celebration will take place on April 30, back in the place where it all began:  Nepal. Along with a small group of Room to Read investors, we will experience the history of Room to Read by doing a “check up" visit to the first school we opened, along with that first library in the village of Bahundanda. We will then celebrate the 10,000th Reading Room milestone on the outskirts of Pokhara, in the shadow of the Annapurna mountain range. While there, we will make our vow to continue bringing books, libraries, and the lifelong gift of education to even more children during our second decade.

Along the way, as much as we can get out to you, our team will be blogging, Tweeting, FLIPing, Facebook posting, taking photographs, and pretty much doing everything short of sending you a personal voicemail in order to share the excitement of this trip.

And, thanks to all your RT’s on our #tweet4books promoted Twitter campaign and thanks to the generous donation by Breadpig (@breadpig), we’ve raised the equivalent of over 3,600 books that will fully stock our 10,000th library. I look forward to carrying in some of my favorite Nepali local language children’s titles like Tommy Tempo or Dorje and Bhakku and handing those over to the children who are eagerly awaiting the opening of their new library.

We hope you will, as they say, "WATCH THIS SPACE" and keep tabs on our journey. Our Twitter feeds are: @roomtoread and @johnwoodRTR.

We will announce new blog posts from Nepal via these Twitter accounts. We hope you will not only follow us, but also share the news and excitement with friends, family, co-workers, and potential chapter members and investors.

We will look forward to updating you, live from the Himalayas!

With warmest regards,

John Wood

Zambia: The "Teacher Librarian"

Chingale Mudenda has been teaching for the past two years at the Lukwipa Basic School in Zambia. What she loves best, she says, is that she gets to teach children how to read and write. “I spend a lot of my time with the children in the library to help them improve their reading skills,” she says. One could scarcely miss the enthusiasm and passion on her face as she goes on to explain how she skillfully helped set up the library at her school following the librarian training she received from Room to Read. So it’s no surprise that as a result of her efforts, she became known as the "Teacher Librarian."

Asked what the new library has meant to the school, Ms. Mudenda says, “It is a valuable gift to our children. In the past, the school had no books at all. But now, thanks to Room to Read, we have nice story books and our children are excited to spend their time in the library reading.”

As she walks through the library to check on what’s going on, she is impressed to find children busy reading. When asked what her role is, Ms. Mudenda proclaims that her duty is to help and encourage pupils to spend time in the library. She talks enthusiastically about how the book-borrowing system is working and how she encourages children to borrow books and read at home with their families.

Ms. Mudenda is so passionate about enhancing children’s reading skills that she even enlisted helpers to ensure that the library remained open during the day. She took it upon herself to train two pupils as library monitors and another as a teacher library assistant.

“When I’m busy teaching, the library assistant takes over and the monitors help out during the students’ free time,” she says proudly.

Thanks to Ms. Mudenda leadership and guidance, students at Lukwipa Basic now have a library (with helpers!) they can depend on to offer lots of story books that will help them to develop good reading habits and a love of learning.

To learn more about our programs in Zambia, click here.

Once Upon A Time in Sri Lanka…Part II

Seven-year-old Mohan is Mallika’s classmate who shares her love for story books and he is always all ears during storytelling time. (Read about Mallika’s captivating narration skills in Part I here).

Each day Mohan takes a book home; however, he can only enjoy the pictures because he struggles to actually read the books by himself.

Mohan’s teacher Ms. Nipunisa explains, “Mohan is a bright and enthusiastic student, but his reading skills are not in the same league as Mallika’s because he has no one at home to help with his studies or reading -- which means he continually lags behind.” Mohan comes from a broken home; he stays with his grandmother while his father works as a mason, often returning home long after Mohan has gone to sleep.

So Room to Read and Ms. Nipunisa decided the best way to help Mohan improve was to pair him with a classmate who could read along with him to help him practice. Mohan seems quite happy with the arrangement as he points to a classmate and says “I ask my friend Hasan to read out the stories to me and together we enjoy the book.”

His teacher acknowledges that even though Mohan is a slow starter, he is an eager student who loves school and never takes a day off. “Of course I love coming to school,” chirps Mohan. “I never miss school and I wish we did not have to sit at home on weekends. In school, I get to play with my friends and listen to the stories my teacher tell us every day. My favorite story is about a squirrel and a rabbit because I love animals. Someday I will keep a dog as a pet and write a story about him.”

Mohan’s aspirations don’t end there. When asked when he was plans to narrate a story like Hasan and Mallika, he is quick to answer. “The next time you come you will see me standing in front of the class and reading loudly,” says Mohan while flashing a thumbs up sign to seal that pact.

--Reena Luke