Room to Grow Scholar in Nepal Featured on PBS FRONTLINE/World Video

Her family is part of the Dalit, or "untouchable" caste. Her parents break rocks for a dollar a day. Yet 9-year-old Sabina Timilsina is a happy and proud student who reads books late into the night and dreams of becoming a doctor. How is this possible? Viewers of an innovative and captivating video filmed by the team from PBS find out as they follow the visit of Frontline journalist Sachi Cunningham to a small village on the outskirts of Kathmandu. This moving 15 minute video entitled "Nepal: A Girl's Life" chronicles the life of Sabina, a young Nepalese girl living in the Kathmandu valley, who is a part of our Room to Grow Scholarship Program. Following Sabina through her daily life at home and at school, the film illustrates the very tangible ways her scholarship is providing life-changing opportunities to girls throughout the developing world. Though 70% of all women in Nepal are illiterate, Sabina is now guaranteed an education through high school, breaking the cycle of poverty and illiteracy so prevalent in the developing world.

In addition to following Sabina's progress, the video highlights Room to Read's efforts to build schools, establish libraries, publish local language children's books and provide more scholarships to young girls - all through engagement and partnership with the local communities. This video clearly demonstrates the kind of impact Room to Read is having on hundreds of thousands of children around the world. We were so impressed by the piece, we wanted to share the link to the story with you so you too can experience Sabina's story firsthand. We're guessing that if you watch it, you will shed a few tears as you witness the very real ways education can change a life and change the world.

Local Language Publishing Conference in Nepal

We are very proud that our Local Language Publishing Program (LLP) recently won the Academy for Educational Development's "Breakthrough Ideas in Education" award for its innovation in addressing literacy in the developing world. Building on the momentum of that award, our LLP Program Officers from across Asia and Africa met in early May in Kathmandu for our first-ever Annual LLP Conference. The meeting was an opportunity for teams across all seven of our countries to come together for eight days of cross-cultural exchange and dialogue on our publishing program.

Lead by Sarah Jaffe and Kelly Morphy (Room to Read Global Program Associate and Global Program Officer respectively), the Global LLP Team focused on a different phase of children's book publishing each day and discussed how they related to the Room to Read publishing process. Participants delved into discussions on the various phases of the publishing process from the manuscript selection phase to editing and what makes a good story, to illustration, layout and overall book design and distribution.

Conference participants were thrilled to be joined by four of our incredible Nepalese authors, editors, and illustrators. Christine Stone, the creator of our original character Tommy Tempo, led a session on character development; Nepali editor, Shanta das Manandhar, discussed how to edit a story and bring its voice to life; and sessions on illustration and book design were led by Room to Read illustrators Sujan Chitrakar and Raju Babu.

After this amazing week, the Local Language Publishing Officers are excited to incorporate the new skills they learned to make their programs stronger than ever!

Room to Read South Africa hosts Panel on Traditional African Story Telling

Traditionally, Africans have revered good stories and storytellers. Although ancient writing traditions exist on the African continent, most Africans today and in the past are primarily oral people, and their art forms reflect this. To further explore the impact of this tradition, Room to Read South Africa organized a lively panel discussion on the history and celebration of oral story-telling in Africa on June 28th. The event was cohosted by Alterra Global Initiative, an organization specializing in designing creative, interactive and educational programs for students and professionals. Close to 20 people attended this interactive cultural experience including visiting teachers from elementary schools in Chicago and North Carolina as well as U.S. Embassy staff. The panel consisted of well known cultural experts and educational specialists from South Africa including Dr. Ntswane from the Ministry of Science and Technology and Mandla Maseko from the Ministry of Education.

After receiving an overview of Room to Read's programs, the conversation moved to the complexities of creating a culture of reading within the African context. Among the topics discussed were the ways books and technology can help young authors to preserve the oral stories of their heritage, and how Room to Read can play a pivotal role in this process by supporting the documentation of oral traditions in local languages. The panel agreed that one of Room to Read's upcoming local language children's publications will focus on capturing traditional oral stories in both print and electronic form for wide distribution to the children of South Africa.

The panelists also discussed the government's commitment to encouraging a culture of reading in South Africa's youth by identifying good story books - especially age-appropriate stories written in indigenous languages. The government representatives acknowledged that access to books is still a luxury for many schools in the poorest areas (often falling along racial divides), and praised Room to Read's efforts to establish libraries and make a wide variety of reading materials available to the children of South Africa.

Based on the tremendous success of this roundtable discussion, Room to Read South Africa hopes to turn this into an annual event.

International Literacy Day

In 1956 at the World Conference of Ministers of Education, September 8 was proclaimed International Literacy Day. On this day each year individuals, organizations, and countries throughout the world renew their efforts to combat illiteracy and demonstrate their commitment to providing education for all.

Room to Read started celebrating International Literacy Day in 2006, with events across the six Asian countries where Room to Read works. Thousands of students, teachers, parents, and community members participated in a variety of activities in numerous schools and libraries. From story-writing competitions to plays, from reading quizzes to games, the activities we hosted were designed to promote literacy and education.

This year we are encouraging schools in the US and other developed countries to hold Read-a-Thons to celebrate International Literacy Day! Read-a-Thons are a great way to encourage students to increase their own reading ability while raising money to further the programs of Room to Read, giving thousands of children in the developing world access to educational resources. You can download a Read-a-Thon Kit, with all of the information you will need to hold your own event from the Students Helping Students website, www.roomtoread.org/shs. Help us promote literacy around the world!

For questions or more information, please contact Molly Redding at +1 415-561-3331 or mredding@roomtoread.org.

Room to Grow Girls' Scholarship Program Launches in Laos

We are excited to announce the launch of our Room to Grow Girls' Scholarship Program in Laos as of March 2007. Although we had originally planned to start the program with 100 girls, our Laos team saw so much need for the program that we doubled the number to 200. Our scholars are currently attending government schools in grades ranging from 3-8, and we will continue to support their education (including extra tutoring when needed and various life skills trainings) through grade 11 - the final year of upper secondary school in Laos. Additionally, all of the girls in our scholarship program attend schools where Room to Read has built the school or established a library, thus enhancing their exposure to improved educational opportunities.

Our criteria for selecting the scholars was based on proximity to the target school, relative poverty of their family, and motivation of the student and commitment of her family to her long-term education goals. Applicants were all interviewed and photographed by Room to Grow program staff at their respective schools. We also conducted home visits with the girls and their parents to ensure that their home environment would be supportive and encouraging of her continued education. The selection committees included representatives from the education departments at the provincial and district level, the school Director, prominent community members (usually the leadership of relevant villages) and our Room to Grow Senior Program Officer, Mrs. Somphet Phannolath.

The girls will attend a scholarship award ceremony this summer and start school in early fall 2007. We are so thrilled to be able to help the girls of Laos achieve their dreams of pursuing an education!

Better World Books - Buy Harry Potter or Donate Used Books to Support Room to Read

Room to Read has partnered with Better World Books ("BWB") since 2004 to benefit children in the developing world through the sale of new and used books online. Started four years ago by three college students at the University of Notre Dame who sold donated textbooks out of the back of a Community Center, BWB has quickly become a thriving social enterprise raising over US$2 million for different literacy organizations  - including over US$200,000 for Room to Read.

Better Word Books encourages college students to organize book drives for Room to Read and sells the donated books with approximately 10% of the sale coming back to Room to Read's programs. They are currently working on over 1,200 college campuses to organize "Book Drives for Better Lives." BWB also works with over 750 libraries to sell their discards on consignment and raise money for Room to Read and other literacy organizations.

BWB also recently launched a new website, www.BetterWorld.com, to showcase its stock of over 2 million books. Log on to their "Fund Global Literacy" section to browse through all titles that will benefit Room to Read.

In addition, from now till the end of the year, US$5 from the sale of every Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book on www.BetterWorld.com will go to funding the establishment of libraries in Nepal and Sri Lanka!

Exciting New Addition to Our Board

We are pleased to announce the addition of John Ridding, CEO of the Financial Times to our Board of Directors. He joins as our first non-American member, bringing deep international experience and an extensive network of global contacts. John has served as Chief Executive of the Financial Times newspaper and FT.com since June 2006. Previously, he was the Editor and Publisher of the Financial Times, Asia, as well as Chairman of Pearson in Asia. Since joining the Financial Times in 1987, John has served in almost every capacity. Positions have included Managing Editor, Deputy Editor, Hong Kong bureau chief, Paris correspondent, deputy features editor, Korea correspondent, UK companies reporter and foreign desk correspondent.

The Financial Times has been a supportive partner of Room to Read, sponsoring the most successful fund-raising event in our history in tandem with our Hong Kong chapter, and we look forward to deepening the relationship with them. With the addition of the FT's CEO, a strong Board just got stronger, and the trusted global brand for developing world organization just got more global. Please join us in welcoming John Ridding!

John Wood named Henry Crown Fellow

The Aspen Institute has chosen John Wood, Founder and CEO of Room to Read, as one of twenty 2007 Henry Crown Fellows! The Henry Crown Fellowship is designed to engage the next generation of leaders in the challenge of community-spirited leadership. It brings together entrepreneurial young executives and professionals under the age of 45 who have achieved conspicuous success in their chosen fields of endeavor. The new Henry Crown Fellows will meet four times over a two-year period and will undertake individual community service commitments. Their first meeting is this August in Aspen.

New Hires

To strategically address Room to Read's rapidly expanding geographic footprint, the organization has created the new position of Chief Program Development Officer as part of the management team in San Francisco. We are pleased that Charmaine Ess joined Room to Read in this position in April. Her efforts will focus primarily on our program expansion into Latin America and continued program build-out in Asia and Africa. Charmaine's professional experience includes jobs in investment banking and consulting where assignments brought her to live and work in Russia, England, Denmark, and France. Prior to joining Room to Read, Charmaine was at the Moore Foundation for two years, managing a one billion dollar land & wildlife conservation grant to the Latin America Region.

We have also begun to build out our Monitoring and Evaluations team, and are thrilled to announce three new M&E team members:

• Rebecca Dorman joined Room to Read's Global Office in March as our first Monitoring and Evaluation Associate
• Sing Sophae joined Room to Read Cambodia in April as the Monitoring and Evaluation Program Officer
• Ta Quoc Viet joined Room to Read Vietnam in May as Monitoring and Evaluation Program Officer

Please join us in welcoming these talented new members of our team - we are THRILLED to have them on board as we meet the opportunities and challenges ahead!

Join Us for a Room to Read Event and Help Educate Children in the Developing World!

During the fall, our global Volunteer Chapters will be planning numerous events. When you attend a Room to Read event you will learn more about our work and meet other globally-minded individuals! For more information and to see if there is a Room to Read event near you, please visit www.roomtoread.org/events.

New Chapters

During the first half of the year, new Chapters have been founded in Calgary, Greenwich, Portland and Salt Lake City. If you are interested in becoming involved with a local Chapter and helping spread the word about Room to Read in your community, visit our website at www.roomtoread.org/volunteer.

If you would like to further support our work and invest in our growth, please visit www.roomtoread.org/donate. Thank you!