---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sarah Torrible <storrible@cis.edu.sg>
Date: Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 8:37 AM
Subject: Food for thought re: community outreach opportunity for ISLN
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From: Sarah Torrible <storrible@cis.edu.sg>
Date: Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 8:37 AM
Subject: Food for thought re: community outreach opportunity for ISLN
Happy New Year everyone!!
From: Big Brother Mouse <bigbrothermouse@yahoo.com>
Date: January 10, 2012 PM 12:08:41 GMT+08:00
Subject: A village that wanted a book
Good morning!
This newsletter is shorter than most, in accordance with what I must admit was my LAST New Year's resolution: "make those newsletters shorter and more frequent!"
Recently, we heard a story from a remote village where we've set up a village reading room, in the home of a volunteer. This village is in the mountains of Ngoi district. It isn't on a road; the only way to get there is a 2 hour trip by boat.
Last year, we published a book about World War II. Somehow, several people in the village had heard about the book, but the reading room there hadn't gotten copies from us yet. (They told us the story on our last visit, when we took that book, and others.) So the next time a boat was going to the main town, the librarian rode along, and borrowed a copy from the reading room there for 2 weeks, for which he paid the equivalent of about 25 cents (U.S.)
I'm been in Laos so long I'm not sure how someone in another country would react to that story. But to me, it was a cause for celebration. When I first came here, I heard the same thing again and again: "Lao people don't read." Most people, of course, had nothing at all to read if they wanted to; and what existed was pretty dull. Who could say what would happen if they had access to good books?
Now, as we've been creating that access, with help from many of you, we're getting the answer: With good books – books that are interesting, books that help them stay healthier, or have better lives, books that are fun, books that promote education – people DO want to read. They'll even go to some effort to do it.
With 170 books, and five years of experience figuring out the best ways to get books into rural villages that didn't have them before, we're now ready to do more. Will you help?
In the attached proposal, we're asking you – as an individual, a school, a civic club, a church or synagogue, or just a group of people who come together to make a difference – to help us grow. The new year is a time that many of us like to set some new goals; perhaps this could be an opportunity to ask others if they'll join with you, to share your good fortune with others. Please take a look.
Thank you for considering this, and we all send our best wishes for the new year.
Sasha Alyson
for Big Brother Mouse
Books that make literacy fun!
www.BigBrotherMouse.com
Sarah Torrible
Teacher Librarian
Canadian International School
Tanjong Katong Campus
Teacher Librarian
Canadian International School
Tanjong Katong Campus
371 Tanjong Katong Road, Singapore 437128
Tel: +65 6345 1573 I Fax: +65 6345 4057
URL: www.cis.edu.sg
URL: www.cis.edu.sg
Click here to access our online Tumblebooks Library
Engage. Enlighten. Empower. http://www.bigbrothermouse.com
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