New Community Library Opens In The Philippines

Despite the challenges posed by typhoons, the Taal volcano eruption, and Covid, a new community library has opened its doors in a village near Lipa, Philippines.

We are delighted to have contributed a wide assortment of books to this wonderful project, and look forward to contributing many more.

The library is the brainchild of retired librarian Peter Mazzei, and  his hard work, and that of so many others, has paid off.

Computers Donated to Uganda Health Organization

Josh Miller giving the three laptop computers Reader to Reader donated to Patrick Okello, a board member of Step Up Uganda.

Step Up Uganda is a small all-volunteer organization that engages members of the local community who have suffered through 20 years of war with the Lord's Resistance Army to rebuild their community, to heal from the trauma of war and poverty and to develop the capacity of its medical providers to prevent and reduce infant and maternal mortality. The organization is located in an impoverished region with few resources and many threats to health and well-being, such as malaria, dysentery, dengue fever. The computers are being used by local health workers to access up-to-date health information.

Laptops, Books, and More on the Way to Zambia

Blessed Ngoma is working to open a community center in Zambia, and we are delighted to help with the project. 

We are donating laptops, books, puzzles, games and even a laptop projector.

Blessed Ngoma is graduate student at the University of Massachusetts and works as a Permanency Coordinator at Becket Family of Services in Brattleboro, Vermont. 

He is working with his friends back in his native Zambia to open the center in early 2019.

Laptops Donated Around the World

Laptops are on their way to villages in Bolivia, Ecuador and Zambia, all courtesy of  Reader to Reader's computer donation program.

The laptops heading to Ecuador are being hand-carried by high school students that are spending their year studying abroad.

The laptops for Bolivia arrived earlier this summer. Here is a family in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, enjoying their laptop donated by Reader to Reader.

Our laptop donations to Bolivia included three laptops to Parque Machía, a wildlife sanctuary.

And Blessed Ngoma is working to open a community center in Zambia, so we are donating laptops, books, puzzles, games and even a laptop projector.

More books are Heading to Bolivia!

More Spanish-language books are on their way to Arani, Bolivia.

The donation is part of Reader to Reader’s partnership with the KUSIKUY, a social enterprise business that is working to retail the alpaca fiber clothing crafted by the village’s knitters.

As part of the partnership, Reader to Reader is donating computers, Spanish-language children’s books, and a  collection of business marketing books that have been requested in order to help support the educational needs of local entrepreneurs.

At an altitude of 9,400 feet, the village of Arani is located in the center of Bolivia, and has a population of  3,512.

Computers on their way to Bolivian village

Two refurbished Dell Optiplex computers have begun their journey to Arani, Bolivia.  The computers will be used to teaching coding to teenagers living in the village.

The donation is part of Reader to Reader’s partnership with the KUSIKUY, a social enterprise business that is working to retail the alpaca fiber clothing crafted by the village’s knitters.

As part of the partnership, Reader to Reader is donating computers, Spanish-language children’s books, and a  collection of business marketing books that have been requested in order to help support the educational needs of local entrepreneurs.

At an altitude of 9,400 feet, the village of Arani is located in the center of Bolivia, and has a population of  3,512.

Reader to Reader supports Nigeria Reads

Dear Reader to Reader,

It's being a while I updated you on our progress. Many thanks for your kind support and donation of books to Nigeria Reads. Currently, we have kicked off literacy clubs within our libraries to engage users with the books and study materials and foster learning amongst peer groups after school hours.

Also, I will be visiting Maiduguri. In particular, Biu and Bama where they have IDP camps, to kick off our mobile libraries. I will need your support with a book donation for the IDP camps, potentially there are over 20,000 persons at the camp. I have planned to support the IDP camps with about 1,000 children books as most of the children are out of school to compliment their learning at the camp.

Thank you for your continuous support to Nigeria Reads and improving the literacy of Nigerians.

Kingsley Sintim,
Nigeria Reads

Reader to Reader Helps with Literacy Support in Bolivia

KUSIKUY is proud to be partnering with Reader to Reader to bring a free donation of brand new books to the children of Arani, Bolivia.  

Arani knitters will use the books to help improve literacy in their town.

A small colonial town an hour's drive from the city of Cochabamba, Arani has little internet access and is plagued by drought, poverty and migration.

Almost 30% of the town's original 3,500 inhabitants have moved elsewhere in search of jobs and a better livelihood.

However Arani is also the home of one of KUSIKUY's finest knitting groups, La Imillia.

The La Imillia knitters will be the ones directing the book donations and distribution.

In December KUSIKUY will bring more books computers and technical games, to share with local students.

In addition to books for children, Reader to Reader is donating a Spanish-language collection of business marketing books that have been requested in order to help support the educational needs of local entrepreneurs.

A Big Thank You From Haiti!

Everyone at Lekòl Kominotè Matènwa (Matènwa Community School) here on the island of Lagonav in Haiti sends a huge "Mèsi anpil!" to Reader to Reader! Thank you so much!

The many French books you donated to our library have been useful, fun, and exciting. The huge French dictionary has been especially useful; students and teachers look up words in it every day. One of our eighth-graders borrowed the book explaining racism for four or five weeks straight, and told me she found it really interesting. And everyone is fascinated by "Des Enfants Comme Moi/Children Just Like Me," a book sharing photos of the lives of children around the world.

Meanwhile, your donation allowing us to buy more books was especially important for us, because we were able to spend the money in Port-au-Prince. Too much of the money sent to Haiti ends up going right back to support companies overseas, but your gift let us support Haitian bookstores, publishers, and even street vendors. It also let us buy books that are relevant to our community, including guides to birds, vegetables, and medicinal plants of Haiti, picture books that take place here, and classics of Haitian literature. We bought 35 beautiful new books in French and Haitian Creole. Only a few are in this photo-- the rest have already been borrowed by eager students and teachers!

We are so grateful for your donations that feed our students' curiosity and imagination.

--Meg Holladay
Matènwa Community School
Haiti

Hurricane Relief Books Reach the Bahamas

Over a thousand books and school supplies donated by Reader to Reader have reached the Bahamas, where they will help restock schools destroyed by Hurricane Joaquin in October 2015.

We are very happy with the response:

"There is an amazing assortment of books from your group!"

Hurricane Joaquin, which at its peak had wind speeds of 155 MPH, was only the 20th Category 4 or 5 hurricane to impact the island nation in historical records dating all the way back to 1851.

Schools were severely damaged with many losing all their books, computers, furniture and school supplies.

Many homes were completely destroyed, with 87% of the homes on Crooked Island totally destroyed.

We are pleased to be part of the relief effort, and are continuing to ship textbooks, fiction and nonfiction for all grades, and school supplies.

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

  

From the Tasha Community Library in Nigeria:

“I have received the shipment of the books, I am grateful.

Recently, my librarian shared a story with me of a boy who visited the library and stole the book he was reading, simply because he so much loved the story book that he could not finish reading the book before the library closed. Unknown to the young child of about 7 years, the librarian had planned to ask him for the book when next he visits the library. Just after two days, the mother of the child came apologizing to our librarian for her child and his obsession for books, thanks to the colorful books you are sharing with us. The books are doing great stuff."

"Stories like this are resonating in our libraries and we are working hard to sustain the interest of these underserved kids in reading and learning everything they could.

I noticed you gave us two copies of Dr. Seuss's " Oh, The Places You'll Go!" The book has inspired a lot of the children during our reading sessions.

Please see attached pictures of the Reader to Reader banner at Tasha Community Library.”

Donating Children's Books in Guyana

Reader to Reader is pleased to work with the U.S Embassy Humanitarian Assistance Program in Guyana to distribute hundreds of children’s books.

The recent book donation benefited 140 families in three villages.

Reader to Reader's book and computer donations aid projects in 17 countries.

Books on their way to Kenya

800 books have begun the 7,254 journey from Reader to Reader’s headquarters in Amherst, Massachusetts to Nairobi, Kenya.

Books and Computers Help Ghana Students Prosper!

We are pleased to report that Reader to Reader's work sending books and computers to Ghana has boosted academic achievement. Here is a note we recently received detailing the progress at Eno Boanimah Memorial Academy in Kasoa, Ghana.

“We want to thank you for the great support that we have gotten from Reader to Reader. We have great news. Eno Boanimah Memorial Academy in Kasoa, Ghana, presented its first set of students to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) 2014 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). The results were outstanding. 100% of the EBMA students passed the examinations. In addition, 5 of the 13 students received distinctions."

Reader to Reader’s book and computer donation programs serve schools, libraries and outreach programs across the United States and in 16 countries.

Computers on their way to Togo, West Africa

A batch of refurbished Dell OptiPlex computers has begun their journey to Togo, West Africa, for a new computer lab. The computers were donated by Reader to Reader as part of our Computer Donation Program, which has built computer labs in Costa Rica, Ghana, Nicaragua, Trinidad and Tobago, and in the U.S. in Arizona, Massachusetts, and New Mexico.

Books Reach Mascota Hospital for Children in Nicaragua

University of Massachusetts, Amherst student Kimberly Brown spent a week in Managua, Nicaragua this past May exploring a partnership between Reader to Reader and Health Volunteers Overseas. Both organizations promote education through lasting connections worldwide, and are made possible through a high number of volunteers. On her return, Kim wrote to us:

"Thanks to Reader to Reader, I was able to distribute over 200 books to patients, families, volunteers and employees at Managua’s Mascota Hospital for Children during a medical mission sponsored by Health Volunteers Overseas. A portion of the books, which ranged from preschool to second-grade reading levels in both English and Spanish, are in the hospital’s rehabilitation facilities and will be used to continue creating a child-life program."

This connection between like-minded education organizations hopes to achieve the dual goals of increasing knowledge and literacy, both medical and otherwise, in some of the poorest parts of Nicaragua. With the help and support of our partners at Mascota Hospital for Children and the eagerness of the surrounding community to learn and thrive through education, this new connection has produced very promising results that look forward to making this trip an annual event.

On the Way to Nepal!

A box of children’s books is beginning its 7,405 mile journey from Reader to Reader’s home in Amherst, Massachusetts, to the Magic Yeti Library in Khunde, Nepal.

 No distance is too great for our book donations!

An Amherst grad teams with Reader to Reader in an inspiring book drive

Having grown up in the West African nation of Ghana, Selasie Krampa knew what books could mean to a student in a developing country. So after graduating from Amherst College and taking a job at Aetna in Hartford, Connecticut, he started a book drive for Africa at his office.

“Easy access to books can help increase literacy rates in developing countries,” Selasie says. “This firm belief is what led me to start a book drive.”

A fellow Amherst College alumnus told him about Reader to Reader’s commitment to international literacy, and Selasie contacted us early this year to see if we could boost his collection efforts.

We helped Selasie bring the books down to his collection site in Hartford this weekend. Reader to Reader’s donation to the effort consists of 1200 books, ranging from pre-K to adult, in both English and French. These books, along with donations from his co-workers at Aetna, will head for Africa in April, shipped courtesy of Aetna.

Selasie’s optimistic outlook, as he works to develop resources, reflects exactly what drives our efforts: “I know how difficult it is to get access to books, especially as a child,” Selasie says. “I believe that reading a book can completely change a child's outlook of life.”

Books for a Bon Voyage to Nicaragua

Best wishes to Catherine Gobron, Program Director, North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens for their upcoming trip to Nicaragua.

Catherine is leading a group of volunteers on a service trip and their work will be in part to develop a small children's library in the community of Omotepe.

Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanoes rising from Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua.

We are pleased to have contributed Spanish-language children’s books to help fill the shelves.

What a fabulous place to go. Bon voyage!

Thanks for the books!

We are very pleased to contribute books to Reading Village for their important work in Guatemala.




"Thanks for the books! Just in time for me to bring them with me to Guatemala on Friday."
--Linda Smith - Founder and Director, Reading Village