Wood, along with co-founders of Room to Read, Dinesh Shrestha and Erin Ganju, have much to celebrate with the opening of their 10,000th library in the place where it all began 10 years back—Nepal. Their 10,000th Reading Room inaugurates today at Shree Jana Kalyan Secondary School in Tanahu, not too far from Bahun Danda in neighboring district Lamjung, home of the first Reading Room.
The decade-long history of Room to Read, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in Kathmandu on April 24, goes back to 1998 when Wood, a US national then a Microsoft executive, visited Nepal on a hiking trip.
“Wood was stunned to encounter an acute shortage of books for children,” relates Pushkar Shrestha, the Country Director of Room to Read Nepal and adds, “He went back home and collected 3,000 books and brought them back to Bahun Danda.” Wood would eventually quit his job to team up with co-founder Dinesh Shrestha and devote himself completely to establish Books for Nepal, in 1999.
This inspiring yet humble beginning of the non-profit charity, with its main office in San Francisco of California, has perhaps been heard and read many times in Wood’s bestseller book “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World”. Published in 2006, the book has been translated into 20 languages worldwide. Translated by writer Khagendra Sangraula, the Nepali version called “Microsoftdekhi Bahundandasamma” came out in Nepal in 2008.
“Room to Read started as Books for Nepal, but as we began to expand into different countries, we needed a new name,” shares co-founder Shrestha, who was acquainted to Wood through Lions International Club, where both their fathers were members. In 2001, Room to Read expanded to Vietnam and by the end of 2009, there were Reading Rooms in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Zambia.
Over the years, Room to Read spread its wings beyond establishing Reading Rooms alone.
“We partner with local communities to create local-language children’s literature, to build schools, and open computer labs, and also to support girl’s education,” informs the Country Director. So far, over 1,500 Nepali girls are getting long-term scholarships through Room to Read.
Through localized stories such as “Tommy Tempo”, “Sani ra Suri” and “Birke Bagh”, students get to learn something tangible while also having fun.
“Through the story of Sani ra Suri, an award-winning book, readers not only learn how Sani finds her lost cat but also learn antonyms and their meanings,” elucidates Rishi Amatya, Documentation Associate for the organization.
“We bring writers and illustrators together to collaborate on books,” says Pawan Singh Karki, local language publishing officer of Nepal. “The artists include well known people such as Abin Shrestha and Dewen Pandey who work for major dailies,” reveals Karki.
Through the publishing of local books, Room to Read emphasizes on creating bilingual libraries—an aspect that makes it unique.
“When we say bilingual, we don’t mean English and Nepali, but Nepali and other colloquial mother tongues, such as Tharu,” explains co-founder Shrestha and asserts, “Our focus now isn’t only on publishing local books to enhance reading skills, but also on how to implement grade-appropriate learning so that children can read as well comprehend what they are reading.”
When choosing locations for a Reading Room, the team from the organization evaluates the sustainability of the program in the areas, number of students they have, and the commitment of the schools’ management.
“After the establishment of a library, we leave everything to the community but underline one condition—no fines will be charged to students if books are lost or damaged,” states Shrestha. “Children should get to borrow books without hesitation or fear.”
Q&A with John Wood
The Week: What does the opening of the 10,000th library mark in Room to Read’s history?
John Wood: It is definitely a celebration. We started at Bahundanda of Nepal and now the 10,000th library is also opening in Nepal. But it is also a challenge for us to achieve more in the coming years.
What is the challenge?
The biggest challenge for us is that we’ve opened 10,000 libraries around the world, but the world needs around a million libraries. So maybe, we are only 1% of our way to the goal.
What are the strengths of Room to Read?
I think the strengths are the fact that it is managed at a community level. We are not a bunch of Americans telling the locals what to do but there is a strong team in Nepal of all Nepalis. There is a strong Indian team in India. There is Sri Lankan team in Sri Lanka. The fact we are publishing in local languages in Nepali and Tharu is a really big strength. You couldn’t find children’s books ten years ago in Nepali, and now there are hundreds of them.
Are local Nepali books being translated into other languages, and vice versa?
Right now, we are not doing that. We have Vietnamese locals publishing books in their language because the books need to be localized. Nepali children may not be able to relate to their stories and vice versa. Maybe in the future, we might look into that.
Related story
Helping children enjoy reading
