Hey, you! Donate to the Education for Liberation Library Project. Karmic Rewards Guaranteed!

For those who aren't in the reading-a-blog mood and just want to give money and go on with their days, here's the punchline: http://tzreads.org/projects/education-for-liberation/  

And now, a little blog post that will hopefully inspire you to donate:

The other day, my friend Kim mentioned that she had been born with a deformity that was fixed by wearing leg braces during the first 6 months of life. I was pretty surprised to hear that—Kim is one of the best and most passionate athletes I know, finishing half marathons in less than 1.30 and competing in Iron Man races for fun. She commented that she doesn’t know what kind of person she would be if she had grown up in Tanzania, where her easily fixed deformity would have turned her into a life-long cripple. She can't imagine an alternative life where she wouldn't have been able to become an athlete.

It’s similar to how I feel about my passion for books and learning. In a lot of ways, I define myself by my love of school and my ability to get so lost in a book that hours go by like seconds. Being “book smart” is part of who I am. As is the fact that I was able to attend one of the best colleges in America and succeed there. But like Kim, I was born with a deformity—actually, a couple—that would have made me an entirely different person if I were raised in a Tanzanian village. I have imperfect eyesight, corrected with glasses, and I was born with a lazy eye that was corrected with surgery when I was a child. I have also struggled with attention deficit disorder for my entire life.

Combined, these abnormalities would have doomed me in a bookless Tanzanian classroom. I wouldn’t be able to see the board, and even if I could, I probably wouldn’t be able to pay attention long enough to copy down the information carefully and properly. I’ve always been the kind of student who needs to study at my own pace, which might be faster or slower than a teacher’s lecture. I succeeded in school because I was able to study out of books. Without books, I am sure I would have failed. Here in the village, students are lucky if they get to consult a book once during their time in school. There are so few copies of the textbooks that students will often end up sharing one book for 15 students, or just listen to the teachers read aloud from the only copy.

When I look at my students here in the village, I see kids failing not because they are stupid but because their learning style isn’t catered to in a place where close attention to a teacher's lecture is the only learning option. But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if we could provide enough textbooks that even ADD kids with crappy eyesight had a fighting chance at success?

Get excited, because that’s exactly what we’re going to do. And you’re going to help me. Yes, you. Click on the link below to see my fundraising page for Tanzania Reads, an organization that helps struggling schools like mine purchase textbooks and create reading spaces. We have until June 10^th to raise as much money as we possible can. The sky is the limit—the need here is that great.

http://tzreads.org/projects/education-for-liberation/

Don't take my word for it, though. Here's a quote from two teachers at my school, Mr. Yusufu and Mr. Shirima about the importance of textbooks: 

“Teaching has become a difficult task due to lack of teaching and learning resources including textbooks ... our teaching methods do not address all of the students’ learning styles. Many students cannot learn at all without seeing words, vocabulary, diagrams etc.”

A lot of you have been reading this blog for the past two years and wondering what you can do to help. This is the only chance you’re going to get. I’m leaving the village in 2 months and I want to leave behind something more than just the memory of a hyper white girl who likes to talk bluntly about awkward topics. I want to leave behind something that will help kids like me reach their full potential.

Here's that link again: http://tzreads.org/projects/education-for-liberation/ 

So go click on that link and give as much as you can, then treat yourself to a big ole pat on the back. Every little bit counts.