During the summer of 2000, the walls went up on one of the first Room to Read schools in Nepal.
Nepali boys settling in at a new school, 2001.
As we gained early momentum in Nepal in 2001, I had the pleasure of seeing our ideas become reality.
We had to deliver books by any means available to areas without roads, sometimes on the backs of yaks. Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, 2001.
Room to Read Nepal Country Director Dinesh Shrestha speaks at opening ceremony of Room to Read school.
Our first projects in Vietnam broke ground in 2001. Here, Vietnamese children are performing morning calisthenics in the Mekong Delta.
From the beginning we’ve welcomed donors to view the projects they funded. Here, Room to Read Singapore chapter member Kurt Messersmith visits a new Computer Room in Vietnam.
Our Room to Grow girls scholarship program was launched in 2001. These Nepalese girls were among the first to join the program.
Vietnamese students at a new Room to Read school ham it up for the camera.
Room to Read’s Chief Operating Officer Erin Keown Ganju returns to Vietnam and begins planning a new round of school construction projects.
These Vietnamese girls are at an opening ceremony for a new Computer Room. Computer literacy is one of the largest unmet educational needs in Vietnam.
Students enjoy their first computer experience in rural Vietnam. Room to Read began building Computer Rooms in 2001.
Erin and I met this eager student during our study trip to Cambodia in 2002.
Room to Read’s first libraries in Cambodia opened by the end of 2002, reversing losses incurred by the Khmer Rouge’s destruction of schools and libraries.
Crossing the Throng La Pass in Nepal, at 17,769 feet elevation, requires a ten-day trek uphill, followed by seven days downhill. On the left is Room to Read volunteer Angela Hanke.
Cambodian students attend the opening ceremony of their new Computer Room. With each new Computer Room, local teachers are provided with computer literacy training.
A Room to Grow scholar in Vietnam: girls should not be afraid to be extraordinary.
Nepali students respond positively to books relevant to their culture. We addressed this need by getting into the publishing business and creating books the children could relate to.
Our publishing program extended to Cambodia. Here’s a Cambodian boy enjoying a new Khmer-language book.
Backpacks await their new owners on the day of a Room to Grow scholarship initiation ceremony in rural Cambodia.
In addition to backpacks, each new scholar is given a bike. Schools in rural Cambodia can be up to three hours walk from some villages.
Room to Read Chicago chapter leader Tina Sciabica visits some of the Nepali Room to Read scholars benefiting from the funds she has raised.
On this night, Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen made a $250,000 gift in honor of Room to Read’s five year anniversary.
Many rural Laotians never have the opportunity for a formal education. With the goal of reversing this trend, Room to Read began operations in Laos in 2005.
I talk with the headmaster of Harihar School, Uday Kharki, in Pokhara, Nepal, during a visit to open the school’s new Computer Room in 2003.
This new Language Room in Vietnam will teach 300 kids per day a foreign language. English speakers in Vietnam can earn up to three times as much money as those who are not bilingual.
In November of 2005, I helped inaugurate a new school in rural Nepal. With an illiteracy rate of 70%, Nepal is in urgent need of educational resources.
Room to Read Cambodia staff and chapter leaders from around the world enjoy the opening of the 2,000th library funded by Room to Read, September 2005. This school stands in the shadows of the legendary temples of Angkor Wat.
After the tsunami devastated Southeast Asia in 2004, we received a deluge of donations to build schools in Sri Lanka. Many Sri Lankan students, like this preschooler, attend new Room to Read Schools.
Room to Read is grateful for the hard work of volunteers, and so is Congress! Ten-year-old Jacob Rasch of Maryland was honored by the Congressional Human Rights Committee for selling more than 70,000 wristbands to aid tsunami-impacted villages in Sri Lanka.
These female students are at a Room to Read– sponsored library in the desert state of Rajasthan, India.
This is one of the nearly 2,000 girls on long-term scholarships through the Room to Grow program. Only $250 per year can put a girl in school in the developing world.
Room to Read celebrated the donation of its 1 millionth book in Nepal, November 2005.
After a warm reception with marigold garlands made by students, I congratulated all the volunteers who made this amazing milestone possible.
Students in rural Nepal wasted no time in learning how to make welcome signs in PowerPoint!
This Nepali girl is proud to show off her computer skills. The sign she made read, “Welcome John Wood.”
A Cambodian student illustrates his dream of growing up to become a businessman, thanks in part to the new computer lab established in his village.
Ethiopian boys at a library in the capital city of Addis Ababa. This photo was taken during a study trip in 2004 as we prepared to launch Room to Read Africa.
Who knew that an Amharic-language version of Harry Potter was available in Ethiopia?
Here, I am with a shepherd boy in the Simien Mountains of northern Ethiopia—November 2004. We plan to bring library access to millions of children like him across the African continent.
Still partners after all these years—John Wood and Dinesh Shrestha enjoy an opening ceremony in Dhading Province, Nepal.