In 1998, a young, burned-out Microsoft executive named John Woods visited a school in Nepal with 5,000 children and an empty library. He returned the following year with 3,000 books tied to the backs of six donkeys, fulfilling a promise he had made to the school principal.
The fulfilment of this promise exploded into a movement called a Room to Read. Since its inception a decade ago, Room to Read has been instrumental in establishing more than 10,000 schools and multilingual libraries in developing countries worldwide. The organisation has published books in regional languages and started scholarships for less privileged students – particularly
girls – in developing countries. To date, they have reached more than
10 million children.
Woods’ effort captured the attention of people around the world, many of whom are now channelling their energies into bringing literature to some of the poorest regions in
the world.
One such person is Mimi Yang, who took on the role of chairperson for the Room to Read Dubai chapter in September last year. At the beginning of this year, with the help of students and teachers from the American School of Dubai (ASD) and the Week Without Walls (WWW) programme, the chapter raised enough funds to build a library. Woods contributed by coordinating the donation of 200 books to the Shree Deurali Community Primary School in Nepal.
Before coming to Dubai, Yang was a typical working girl juggling a high-profile job and a comfortable home in Los Angeles. She had joined Merrill Lynch in 1999 as an international financial advisor and travelled frequently around the US. A book changed all of that.
On one of her business trips to New York, she bought a copy of Woods’ biography Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children.
“It was right after my mother-in-law had passed away in December 2006. I couldn’t stop crying after reading [the biography]. My family bears testament to how much an education can change a life. My late mother-in-law, Chong Cha Song, was born in South Korea in 1941. They went through very difficult times during the Korean War. Her parents didn’t want her to go to school.
“But she never gave up. She walked two hours every day climbing mountains to get to the school run by missionaries from the US. She ended up working at the US Embassy because her English was so good, and was later able to immigrate to the US.
“Today, when I look at my son, Eljin Yoo, who attends ASD, plays the guitar and is so articulate, I think of his grandmother who had to struggle to get such an education. Her efforts changed the fortune of our families. Just a generation later, her grandson has access to all the books and facilities she could only have dreamt of as a child his age. Woods’ book has had the same impact on communities around the world.
“I saw my mother-in-law in every page of that book. She always talked about going back to Korea to start a school to offer the children in her village an education. The story of the girls in Woods’ book mirrored that of my mother-in-law’s,” says Yang.
When dreams do not find expression in the real world, they usually stay that way – a dream. Yang got so caught up with her corporate life, that continuing her mother-in-law’s hopes of starting a school fell by the wayside. Yang had bills to pay and there was no way she thought she could join Woods’ organisation and be a full-time volunteer.
“My office was located on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and my clients were rich and famous. I was hanging out with wealthy high-fliers and staying in five-star hotels. I have to admit I could not let go of that lifestyle. I thought: ‘I can donate money but what else can I do?’ However, I knew that my time would offer real value. Images of Woods, the Nepalese headmaster and the girls from the book were constantly in the back of my mind. The headmaster’s words: ‘We are too poor to afford education, but until we have education we will always be poor’ stayed with me. And the guilt started to eat at me.
“Then my husband, Alex Yoo, got a job offer in Dubai. He was heart-broken after his mother’s death, and needed to get away. I really didn’t want to move, but he insisted. With allowances covering housing, transport and so on, I realised that now was the perfect time to quit making excuses.
“We moved to Dubai during the summer of 2007. It took me a whole year to end my career in the banking industry by finding replacements and clearing legal requirements, and so on,” she recalls.
Around the same time, the Room to Read UAE chapter had just been launched by Anne O’Connell and Lucy Chow. In 2008, the Million Book Challenge was launched. At a book signing event, Yang met Woods and felt sure she had found her calling
in life.
Yang plunged into the various activities of the Dubai Chapter, volunteering for the Student Helping Student committee where the fund-raising efforts contributed towards building of a school or library in a developing country. “I wanted the children to get personally involved with Room To Read. There are thousands of charities but children don’t have any personal connection with them. My dad used to tell me that passion can be learnt. With that in mind, I decided to create a Room To Read after-school club.”
As a result of her enthusiasm, Yang was elected as chairperson of the Dubai Chapter. Both parents and students welcomed the after-school activities that inspired children to raise funds for impoverished students.
“The response to the club was phenomenal,” says Yang. “I had children from the second to the 11th grade participating in our meetings.
I wanted children to realise the value of each dirham. I told them that in Nepal it costs Dh3 to publish a book.
“When we started the Room to Read Cafe, the children created the menu. They decided what would be sold and the prices. The older children created the recipes and the younger ones donned bow ties and black aprons and served.
“Parents came to the cafe to encourage their wards. We also organised craft activities where students learnt to make things from recyclable materials.
“One girl named Laura Warner came up with the idea of a-dirham-a-day donation box and embarked on her own collection drive. The students displayed fantastic initiative and came up with some innovative, environmentally aware ideas,” she says proudly.
“I told them about the little children in developing countries who have to work up to 18 hours a day to make ends meet. Having learnt more about the developing world, the kids showed greater understanding and empathy to those less fortunate than themselves and responded to the call for action. There is nothing more satisfying for me than seeing each member show a passion for helping others,” she says.
Yang shared a few diary entries from some of the project members. Leya Samhoun, a second grader at ASD wrote: I am very proud to be part of Room to Read. It teaches us to help others and make their lives better. It makes me feel good in my heart when I know that I’ve helped someone.
Yang’s son, Eljin Yoo, who is also in the second grade, expressed his feelings:
We opened a Room To Read Cafe at ASD. We wore aprons and bow ties like real waiters. We had to be careful not to spill drinks. We did this because we can donate money to WWW Nepal team to build a library there. When I am in the eighth grade, I want to visit the library that we helped to build.
Laura Warner wrote: My Room to Read experience was amazing. One of the projects that I did is called ‘a-dirham-a-day.’ I got a saving can, then I put it in my classroom so that my classmates and I could put dirhams in it. I gave the saving pan to Mrs Mimi who will send the money to Nepal. This is a great club to be part of because even though I cannot go to Nepal, I can still help the children there to have a better life.
Yang discusses how the children feel more connected now. “Our mantra is: ‘Think globally, act locally’. Together with the Room To Read Cafe and other fund-raisers, we raised Dh16,515. Our WWW students went to Nepal to build a library. Room To Read organised for the donation of books.
“In this way, everything is visible. Our members know where the money goes, and can talk to those who went to Nepal. This is a live education. It becomes a very personal thing.”
Yang has been invited by various schools to provide guidance for students in fund-raising programmes. Many other schools in Dubai such as Jumeirah College, Dubai International Academy, Emirates International School (Meadows), Dubai College and Dubai American Academy have expressed an interest in launching similar programmes. A school in Amsterdam wrote to Yang to ask for help too.
“The students come up with such creative ideas to raise funds on their own. That is the power of one student – he or she can change the world. I want to connect with as many schools as possible. We would like to set up Club Room To Read in every school in the UAE. Our aim is to build educational relationships between schools in UAE with other developing countries.”
Yang acknowledges what education did for her family and wants to offer the same gift to others.
“Education is the best gift you can give to another human being. Yes, you can give them material things and feed them. But without education, the gift ends there; on the other hand, with education, the gift continues for many generations.” In closing, she quotes Woods: “World change starts with educated children’ Let’s change the world, one child at a time!”
Get involved
The Room to Read Initiative celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. It has built its thousandth school, opened its ten-thousandth library, constructed over 20 computer laboratories and donated more than 300,000 books to villages in Nepal, India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and South Africa. It has also granted more than 500 scholarships to girls who couldn’t afford to go to school otherwise. It has helped more than a quarter million children receive primary education.
One such child is Sabina Timilisina, a bright nine-year-old Nepalese girl. She lives with her brother and parents, who work in a quarry in a ramshackle tin hut in rural Nepal. As a recipient of a Room to Read scholarship that provides her a uniform, books and tuition fees to attend a local school, Sabina now dreams of being a doctor one day.
With funds pouring in worldwide combined with the efforts of volunteer programme coordinators such as Mimi Yang, the Room to Read initiative is growing from strength to strength.For more information visit www.roomtoread.org or contact Mimi Yang at mimiyang71@hotmail.com
