Oppurtunity for Hindu Cultural Outreach

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

Here is an interesting oppurtunity. The US based organization, ROOM

TO READtm is requesting donations of educational materials for its

outreach in India, Nepal, Vietnam etc.

Hindu activists sould arrange for a large donation of Traditional

Indian folk tale books, in English.

ROOM TO READtm would surely be happy to provide Jataka tales or

Panchatantra along with its Western books.

Please send this message around. Perhaps someone suitable and able

can make this happen.

 

 

http://www.roomtoread.org/libraries.html?as_grant%3f

Reading Room

 

"Donate Books: If you're a publisher and have new English children's

books to donate, we can probably use them. Contact us at

info for details on the types of books we look for and

how to deliver the books to us."

 

Rural schools often lack a library. This means that there is no place

for children to get their hands on a great book to encourage more

learning or to gain a new skill like computers. We seek to address

this issue by establishing a library in every new school we build as

well as many existing schools. We fill these libraries with local

language and English books as well as an increasing number of

computers.

 

Although most rural schools teach English, many have no English

language books. Room to Read was originally established to address

this situation. It continues to be a cornerstone of our charter. Why

English?

 

Some people have asked why Asian children should learn English --

"Shouldn't they learn their own language instead?" Actually, it's

not an either-or decision. Most children learn their own language

plus English.

 

Almost all governments in Asia are encouraging that English be taught

in schools, as it is the key to providing opportunities in areas such

as world trade, foreign investment, technology, medicine, dentistry,

and environmental protection. Furthermore, the common language among

Asians themselves is often English as no matter what country they

came from, English is usually their second language. Mastery of

English can be a ticket out of poverty for families and villages.

 

Finally, the schools we work with in our partner countries request

English language textbooks and story books, so we eagerly try to meet

their requests.

 

 

Our efficient book collection model allows us to ship thousands of

books at a time. New children's books are donated and directly

shipped from major publishing houses to our partner countries.

 

We also purchase or receive donations from other NGO's of local

language children's books in our partner countries whenever possible

to enable our libraries to be multi-lingual and encourage literacy in

the countries native language first. As the children's book

publishing industry is generally nascent in the countries we operate

in, we are increasing our efforts to source unique local language

content for young readers and support the printing costs of these

books.

 

Donate Books: If you're a publisher and have new English children's

books to donate, we can probably use them. Contact us at

info for details on the types of books we look for and

how to deliver the books to us.

 

Unfortunately, we do not accept any used books as donations. After

reviewing our individual book donation program, we have found that it

actually costs Room to Read more time and money to sort and ship

donated used books, than shipping new books in bulk or buying new

books in our partner countries. As a part of our continuing effort to

keep costs low and to ensure that over 90 percent of funds donated go

directly to the children instead of to administrative costs like book

sorting, we are asking individuals to consider selling their used

books, and then donating the profits to Room to Read instead of

donating books directly to us.

 

If you would like to donate directly to our book program on-line, you

can do so at: http://www.roomtoread.org/creditcard.html.

 

The impact is substantial -- each year thousands of children gain

access to their first library, and begin to develop a lifelong

passion for reading.

 

Before I saw the colorful Room to Read books, I thought reading was

only for homework. Now, I can read books that are fun and learn about

other places and animals.

 

Puja, Class 6

Masbar, Nepal

Computer Room

 

Computer literacy is one of the largest unmet needs of the

educational systems in our partner countries, and often what holds

young students back from being part of the global community. As a

result, Room to Read established the Computer Room program.

 

Labs are established directly in schools and consist of five to

fifteen computers with software, a printer, voltage stablizers and

Internet connection (where available). Local teachers are provided

with computer literacy and curriculum development training. As a key

component of our program, training ensures adequate knowledge

transfer from teacher to student, and ensures that the hardware is

maintained properly. Computer lab programs and teachers are

periodically evaluated to quickly remedy any knowledge gaps, and to

reward successful programs with more computer resources. Computer

training and access is often extended to members of the community as

well.

 

On behalf of the teaching staff and students at the Le Ngoc Han

Secondary School, I want to thank all of you in Room to Read for your

generous gift of a computer lab. Your support will help our young

generation face the challenges of the future.

 

Dong Thi Bach Tuyet

Training and Educational Services

Tien Giang Province, Vietnam

 

The Presidio, P.O. Box 29127, San Francisco, CA 94129 • 415-561-

3331 • Fax: 415-561-4428

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