After this particular shipment, we aim to enhance our competencies, search for the next leadership team of  BTR and strengthen our fund-raising process while increasing our volunteer base.

Feel free to email our team members Pine at kyawpine (at) bookstoread (dot) org (dot) sg or Kaushal at Kdugar (at) bookstoread (dot) org (dot) sg – if you are keen to become a part of BTR or have some other ideas.

A big THANK YOU to all books donors once again for bringing smiles to the faces of African children. !

An international fellowship of individuals and groups with no political or religious affiliation, working together to make the world a better place. Sounds too good to be true? As hard as it is to believe, such an organisation actually does exist – and it is called The Earth Assistance Foundation.

Based in Africa, the Foundation operates through three main divisions. Adopt a School advocates and assists in the development of schools with the aim of empowering youth by providing them with a quality education, whereas Water for Peace seeks to provide villages with water through low-cost means, for domestic and agricultural use. Finally, Bega kwa Bega, a Kiswahili expression that literally means shoulder-to-shoulder, takes on projects that fall outside the scope of the first two divisions.

Our partnership with Earth Assistance played a big role in the success of our flagship project in 2009, where 13, 000 books were distributed to schools across Zambia and Tanzania. They were even kind enough to host our co-founder Kyaw Pine for a whole month when he travelled to Africa to oversee the delivery of the books as well as to visit some of the beneficiary schools and children.

Today, we bring to you an interview with Brad Warren, Director of Operations of The Earth Assistance Foundation in Tanzania, to share his views on the Foundation and its collaboration with Books to Read. As someone who has worked on humanitarian projects for the past 45 years, it is no exaggeration to say that he exemplifies the kind of altruistic spirit the world needs more of.

King'Ori High School in Tanzania

Who is responsible for The Earth Assistance Foundation and when was it started?
The Earth Assistance Foundation was established in 1976 in Australia, but now has branches in Holland and the US as well. We also set up an operating branch in Tanzania, Africa in 2007. This was established as a non profit company with a local board, with me as the Chairman.

Where are you based?
We used to be based in Southeast Asia, but at present all our work is done in Tanzania.

Happy students from Mbaaseny Primary School, after receiving their books

What does The Earth Assistance Foundation do?
We will support all worthy causes but right now we are working to develop villages through the establishment and operation of schools and clinics.

Currently, what is the biggest project on your hands?
Developing 6 schools to full capacity. Next year, we will also be starting a village development project involving three schools, a clinic, vocational training as well as tourism development.

Students from Kirenga Primary School, engrossed in their new books

How do you feel about Books to Read and their mission?
Totally fantastic, and a great help to us.

What is The Earth Assistance Foundation doing for Books to Read?
We distribute the books they have collected, and also help to host visitors.

And lastly, how can we find out more about The Earth Assistance Foundation?
Our old website is at adoptaschool.info but this will soon be replaced with our new websites, adoptaschool.interlated.com.au and earthassistance.org

According to student leader Charlotte Tan, the whole process of planning and carrying out the project was in itself a very enriching experience. Because most students in Singapore are used to buying new textbooks every year, their biggest takeaway from the project was how it enabled them to better appreciate what they had always taken for granted. In all, the students’ efforts culminated in a total of about 1800 books collected. We at Books to Read would like to thank them for a job well done!

Some pictures taken during the project:

BTR coverage in SALT - NVPC

Books to Read is featured in SALT Online! Salt Online is a website funded by the NVPC (National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre).

Click the picture to read the full article !

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Singapore Management University
Administration Building
81 Victoria Street

Here’s a visual treat for all our supporters!

The boxes can be seen on your left as you enter the main glass door, facing Bras Basah Road, of the Administration building.

With this new central location, it will be more convenient for supporters and generous donors to deposit books. We warmly welcome all primary to secondary school textbooks, encyclopedias and story books. However do remember to stay clear from material with historical, political, religious and human geography content.

This is Charles, signing off and the kind people at Books to Read want to thank all our supporters for eagerly supporting all our initiatives and await your kind contributions once again.

Last week, we had our latest book sorting and packing exercise. Starting at 8am, the entire process took more than 3 hours. Not surprising, considering that there were 5605 books waiting to be packed, as well as more than 1000 notebooks and stationery! The bulk of these were drop offs from the public at the little dröm store,  an independent publisher and gallery shop located in Ann Siang Hill whose owners offered us the opportunity to install a drop-off box at their store last year. Contributions from River Valley High School and Chung Cheng High School made up the remainder of the donations.

Although the sorting and packing lasted almost till lunchtime, it would undoubtedly have taken a lot longer had we not had the help of the 11 volunteers present that day, including Norman, Sergio, Leo, Tim, Brian, Terence, Melvin, Tiffany, Sumo and Mervyn. Our thanks also go to those friends who came all the way down to donate books to us upon hearing of our packing exercise through word-of-mouth.

The next sorting and packing exercise will probably be in 2 or 3 months’ time, once we have accumulated a sizeable quantity of books through public donations. As always, we are grateful to all our warm-hearted supporters, and hope to see more of you the next time round.

Some pictures of our recent packing exercise !



 

The Little Dröm Store

 

Venue: the little dröm store, 7 Ann Siang Hill, Singapore, 069791

Their hours are as follows:

Everyday – 11am to 9pm except
Thur – 11am to 7pm
Sat – 11am to 4pm

(T): +65 62255541

Chris has been instrumental and spearheaded looking for a drop off point once we reached out to all our supporters. She took the initiative and worked with our team to get things done at a very fast pace. And now thanks to this drop off location, many excellent books which would have otherwise ended up in bins can now be given to school children who have absolutely no access to good books.

We are also working on getting another location in the city for our drop off point and are hoping that we could announce it soon too. As always, we are thanks for our amazing group of supporters who have come forward to support this cause.

Books To Read had to make a trip down to Africa to see for themselves what the educational condition is like there. Due to cost reasons, we could only subsidize one person to brave the harsh conditions of Africa! Pine ended up representing the team to travel to Africa to oversee the delivery of the books and to speak to the students there.

Zambia

The travel to Africa was certainly no easy feat! Let’s see the flight literary:

• Singapore -> Bangkok (Thailand) (2 hr)
• Bangkok (Thailand) -> Nairobi (Kenya) (9.5 hrs)
• Nairobi (Kenya) -> Lusaka (Zambia) (4.5 hrs)
• Lusaka (Zambia) -> Ndola (Zambia) (1 hr)

Beautiful view of Mt Kilimanjaro on my flight from Kenya to Zambia

Internal flight from Lusaka (Zambia) to Ndola (Zambia)  where Mindolo High School is located. It was a small propeller plane and to be honest, I was a little afraid of the condition of the plane. Let’s just say it’s a really small plane that can get toss around in the wind a little.

Finally reached!! I was elated to touch down after all the transit. The teachers at Mindolo High School were there to receive me. They were truly warm and friendly!

Finally well received by the Principal (far left) and teachers of Mindolo High School. I’m 2nd from left … just in case you can’t figure me out…

Zambian food! The staple food (left) is called Nsima pronounced Shi-ma. It’s a sort of yeast paste. Quite nice!

Videos and photos of my trip to Mindolo High School in Zambia can be found here:

• Mindolo High School
• Salem Orphanage in Ndola

The orphanage is just beside Mindolo High School and led by the brother of the principal of Mindolo High School (Mr Kombe).

YouTube videos can be seen too!

Mindolo High School

Salem orphanage

French lesson at Mindolo

Tanzania

The travel to Tanzania from Zambia was also no easy feat! Let’s see the flight literary:

• Ndola (Zambia) -> Lusaka (Zambia) (1 hr)
• Lusaka (Zambia) -> Nairobi (Kenya) (2.5 hrs)
• Nairobi (Kenya) -> Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) (1 hr)

I was also touched by the hospitality of Brad Warren and his house mate Bruno from Earth Assistance Foundation. They made my stay at Tanzania absolutely lovely.

Bruno from Earth Assistance Foundation (EAF)! He was my housemate there and a good friend of Brad (leads EAF in Tanzania). Really took very good care of me.

My bed at EAF’s place. took my spot =)

Photos of the schools in Arusha (Tanzania) can be found here:

• Mbaaseny Primary School
• Kirenga Primary School
• Shishton Secondary School
• Miririni Secondary School
• Mikuuni Primary School
• King\’Ori High School

YouTube videos can be seen too!

Interview with primary school teacher

Secondary school debate

By the end of a month, I couldn’t wait to go back to Singapore. These travel episodes just made me appreciate Singapore so much more.

• Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) -> Nairobi (Kenya) (1 hr)
• Nairobi (Kenya) -> Bangkok (Thailand) (9.5 hrs)
• Bangkok (Thailand) -> Singapore (2 hr)

Finally, touched down at Changi Airport… just love the cab rights home. Will blog in more detail about my experience in Zambia and Tanzania in next few episode! Just wanted to give all a sense of the trip!

–          Who were really committed to the cause?

–          How were we going to deliver this project?

–          Where do we get funding?

–          Which schools should we target?

We tapped on our management team’s internal skills in project management, finance, marketing, operations to operate this project. Through the dedication, effort, and some very fortunate encounters – (the world has its way to help those who want to help!), we chanced upon several organizations that were very interested in sharing the educational wealth with the poor – NLB, Tangs Island Shop, Yen Lee Pte Ltd, MidWest freight, Teo Holdings, KPMG. The public and schools were also very supportive with their book donations. These were some pics from our very first book collection!

That’s Jayne at the background and Wilson sorting out the books. Obviously we know who’s doing the work.

That’s Pine at the far left, Wilson in the middle, and Anson at the far right.

We were featured in the straights times for our efforts! That’s Pine and Anson in the pictures

We also managed to work with Island Shop to help us with our publicity and who kindly sponsored our freight charges!

With the management team’s dedication and commitment, Books To Read managed to raise a total of 13,000 books in total in 2009, far exceeding our internal target of 1,000 books in 2009! Because we truly wanted this project to reflect the spirit of giving, all donations in-kind or funds were used purely for the operational cost of this project. This made our success even more rewarding – that committed individuals could take time out of their busy schedule to make a difference to the lives of others outside the boundaries of what we do!

In Zambia/Tanzania, a good education is essential for him/her to get out of the cycle of poverty in which he/she might be trapped. This is what we at Books to Read aim to achieve through books. Through the power of books, we hope and are sure that the minds of the students will broaden, it will provide them with the necessary courage to think BIG and pursue their own dreams. Most importantly, it will instill in them an intellect and awareness that is essential for their success in career, life and beyond.

The results of our efforts are hard to measure immediately beyond few tangible numbers. However, the best result would be personal stories of the students who would benefit from our book projects. One day, we hope that this same students who benefited from us would be able to carry on this work of spreading the power through books to their fellow-men ! One day, in the not too distant future !

Join us to bring that day sooner rather than later !