Monday Nov 25, 2024
Monday Nov 25, 2024
Thursday, 27 November 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Room to Read Co-founder John Wood – Pic by Sameera Wijesinghe
By Sarah Hannan
Q: How did you get around establishing Room to Read?
A: In 1998 I visited Nepal and was on an 18-day trek, during which I met a headmaster of a school. He invited me to his school and showed me around. The schoolroom was dilapidated, dirt floors, no 
desks and around 80 children cramped in one room which should not hold more than 20. He then asked me to come and see the school’s library and I thought this would be the most exciting part of the tour and expected to see kids with smiling faces reading books.
To my surprise, I walked into an empty room devoid of children’s books. The few books that were available were kept under lock and key. Books were considered precious. The school had so few that the teachers did not want to risk the children damaging them. I asked him how this can be a library where around 450 children turn up every day to learn, they want to learn and their parents want them to learn. To this he responded: “In Nepal we are too poor to afford education. But until we get education we will always remain poor.”
It is a cruel irony not only to be poor but not being able to afford education. These kids were between five and seven years old and they lacked the access to primary education. The headmaster suggested that may be someday I could return with more books for their library.
When I got back to Kathmandu, I headed to an internet café and fired some emails to my friends and family, requesting them to donate books. A year later I returned with 3,000 books on the backs of six rented donkeys. The kids were happy to see children’s books for the first time and after setting up that library we have come a long way. I just wanted to help the children, regardless of where they were in the world.
Q: Since the establishment of Room to Read, how has the organisation grown?
A: If I am to provide you with statistics, as of the first quarter of 2014 we have opened up 1,890 schools, 16,000 libraries, distributed 14.5 million books and assisted 28,100 girls in the girls’ education program.
For the last 13 years we have impacted 8.8 million students and by the end of 2015 we are targeting to impact 10 million students. We want to grow fast as an organisation. Every day you lose in primary school, you cannot get back that knowledge. We are a very result-driven organisation and our main target is to get things done.
Q: What are the key aspects that you look at before implementing a program in the selected country?
A: We work in collaboration with communities and local governments across Asia and Africa to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the life skills they’ll need to succeed in school and beyond. 
We look at three aspects – community support, government support and then the support we give as an organisation. Support from the community can come in form of donating land, funding the projects and volunteering to take care of the project once it is established. The government can then help us by appointing librarians and paying them a monthly salary.
Then we at Room to Read will assist them to establish our programs such as: Building libraries – We establish school libraries and stock them with local-language books, English books, and some of our original Room to Read titles and foster a child-friendly environment, and encourage a love of reading; School construction – In response to the lack of adequate learning environments in many parts of the developing world, we partner with schools to build bright, new, well-ventilated classrooms, so that all children have a safe and beautiful place to learn; Book publishing – We cultivate local talent and source material for local-language children’s books, those books are published in-country and distributed to school libraries, to ensure all children have access to age-appropriate, culturally-relevant reading material; Reading and Writing – We partner with governments to fill gaps in the curriculum for early readers, this includes developing supplementary instruction material, training educators and providing one-on-one support to teachers; Girl’s education – We provide material support, such as school fees, clean uniforms or transportation, in addition to mentoring and life skills training to help girls succeed in the classroom and beyond.
Before anything we try to understand the needs of the community and setup appropriate projects and having a community that is eager. We try to understand their needs and the community should be eager to invest.
Q: How does a child qualify to be a candidate in your program?
A: We look at a big area rather than focusing on just a selected number of children and assisting them according to their needs. One child might be provided with a bicycle and another may be assisted with developing their life skills. We do not want the girls to feel stigmatised. The program is open for all children in the selected area.
Q: How can a sponsor contribute towards Room to Read?
A: When we partner up with companies, we look at the assets that are available. The best example, I can come up with is the MoU we signed up with Holcim, from which we get a significant discount on cement. They have also provided training for masons.
We also have hedge fund managers who manage our finances. Credit Suisse has a dedicated team looking into our finances. Apart from that, we entertain cash donations and look at ways where companies can partner up with us and provide necessary resources. As individuals they can adopt a child from one of our villages, fund the building block of a school that we are building.
Most of our donors come from developed countries and we get back to them with the progress. We have also invited them to visit the countries they have funded. Two weeks ago 15 investors visited Sri Lanka and toured in the areas that they have funded for four days. They were able to visit the libraries they have funded and visited the schools to see the girls who receive funding for education. They also went to the villages where these girls are living and were able to see their families. It was a great opportunity to let the community know the impact Room to Read has created and allowed the investors to witness how the programs are benefiting the people.
We focus more on the existing programs and scale the programs. Literacy is the biggest enabler for children to succeed in life and that is where we are heading with these programs.
Q: What are the challenges you faced when trying to spread the word? How did you overcome those challenges?
A: At the beginning it was hard to be known but after a decade of establishing Room to Read, we managed to open 1000th school, 10,000thlibrary and funding the education of 10,000 girls. So 2010 was named as the year of the tens at Room to Read. Our biggest challenge is to stay in that start-up mind-set and look out for more children that we can serve and impact. Within the next year 15,000 girls are to be added to the scholarship for girls program and Room to Read is getting better and better known with these efforts.
Speaking of getting the word out the media exposure we received after Room to Read was featured on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2007 was immense. The more the word got out the more people were aware about our work. This year we received the honorary Laureate for the World’s Children’s Prize.
In 2015 we will be marking 10 years of service in Sri Lanka. Our original plan was to come to Sri Lanka in 2007. But the tsunami hit in 2004 and we decided that it was the right time to come to Sri Lanka. Within three years of the tsunami, we built 100 schools. Before the tsunami hit Sri Lanka, I had never been to Sri Lanka and we managed to go to Mannar and Trincomalee during the Ceasefire Agreement. We understood that there should be a peace dividend and what more could get a family happy than to see their children to get to school and get educated? Families want to see their children getting back to school. 2015 is going to be a very exciting year for Room to Read in Sri Lanka.
