Somewhere. Anywhere. Just go ahead and start.
I didn't need a single thing for Christmas, so I asked my family and friends to chip in for books to create a library for our ONE-SHOT students.
A good friend had a fancy New Year's Eve party, and wanted to have a charitable fundraiser as part of the event. I asked her if she'd consider chipping in for books for the library. She said yes.
There wasn't a library. Now there's a library (well... as soon as the books are delivered). Not a huge one, but a start.
I was blown away by the generosity and love of my family and friends. I was left undone that they would embrace these kids I love on the other side of the world.
It really is just this simple.
I didn't need a single thing for Christmas, so I asked my family and friends to chip in for books to create a library for our ONE-SHOT students.
A good friend had a fancy New Year's Eve party, and wanted to have a charitable fundraiser as part of the event. I asked her if she'd consider chipping in for books for the library. She said yes.
There wasn't a library. Now there's a library (well... as soon as the books are delivered). Not a huge one, but a start.
I was blown away by the generosity and love of my family and friends. I was left undone that they would embrace these kids I love on the other side of the world.
It really is just this simple.
6 comments:
what a gift
reading opens the world wide
do they read English?
or did you have to order special books
Hey Kel... it was a spectacular gift for me, that's for sure!
Our student's don't read English (or speak it). So it's an interesting situation. There are very few books printed in Kurdish, even fewer for kids.
What was requested was books that would help with their studies, so for the most part we've stuck with science and nature books, atlases, some art instruction, that kind of thing. Every thing is heavily illustrated, so it doesn't matter as much that they can't read the text.
We will be buying the few Kurdish titles that are available. And some DVDs, like the BBC's Earth series.
Fiction was pretty difficult. Particularly for the teenagers. Western story lines (ie. boy/girl relationships) is completely inappropriate. I found a TinTin graphic novel, but was seriously disappointed that I had to go back so many decades to find a story that would be appropriate.
Beautiful.
Will you continue to raise funds to add to your library?
Hey LG...
Not just now. It will take a couple months for the books to get there (you wouldn't believe how slow and expensive it is to ship to Iraq!). We'd like the boys to use the library for a while, see what is meeting their needs, and what would be useful to get. We'll add to it over time. That said, if anyone wanted to chip in, we certainly wouldn't turn it down! lol.
I'll be back to raising funds and gear for the photography workshop. With two workshops coming up, we need twice the resources.
ps. I love what you're doing with your new place :)
I'm curious ... what did you do about shipping? Did you include that in your ask? // I so love the idea ... There's a public library in a small community in SA that we visited a few years ago. The children's side was well-stocked, thanks to World Vision, but the rest of the library ... I took pictures of the empty shelves. Especially the Faith & Religion section.
Thank you for inspiring ... as always.
Hey Idelette-
We're still in the process of purchasing, but we've decided to split the funds into two.
One part will get spent in Iraq. There isn't much available, but we want to support all the local businesses we possibly can.
The other part will get spent primarily with the online bookstore Better World Books. Not only do they offer free international shipping, but have a large charity arm, so it feels really good to support them.
If you are going over (or know someone who is) and have booked your flight well in advance, you can contact your airline to see if you can bring an extra suitcase or cases without cost. They don't always say yes, but in some situations they do.
It brings to mind Amahoro... if everyone coming to that conference (and was able to do so) brought three of their favourite/most formative books to be sent along to that library... in a few years you'd find it would have a really wonderful collection.
Post a Comment