Room to Read: Bringing Books to the World

Meet Isha. She's a chatty 13-year-old with energy to burn who loves to dance and play sports. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up.

A typical young girl, right? Except for this: Isha hasn't always had the luxury to even consider life's possibilities.

As a young child, she lived with her mother and older brother in a resettlement colony on the outskirts of Delhi, India. They were forced to move into the area along with hundreds of the city's poor as part of a downtown "beautification project." (Yet another example of out of sight, out of mind.)

In the colony, the family had to eke out an existence far from public services and available jobs. Isha's mother had to travel a substantial distance to get to her job as a maid, which meant young Isha was alone from early morning until late into the evening. Her house offered little security from the rough and sometimes violent environs. Many houses in the colony are no more than concrete structures, without doors or windows that close.

Isha's mother had trouble supporting her two children on her meager salary. So, when Isha was 8, her mother made a decision few parents would envy: She put her in a home for underprivileged girls where she would be safer and, thanks to the nonprofit Room to Read, would have access to an education.

Isha and the other girls there are on long-term scholarships funded by Room to Read, a San Francisco-based group dedicated to raising literacy rates in developing countries. The nonprofit was started seven years ago by former Microsoft executive John Wood. (An inspirational story in itself, which we'll get to later.)

The statistics on illiteracy are staggering. UNESCO estimates that worldwide there are 780 million illiterate people, two-thirds of which are women and girls. More than 100 million children are not enrolled in primary school, and millions of others don't attend secondary school.

Without access to education, John Wood believes, people don't have a reasonable chance of rising out of poverty. "Yes, people need immunizations; they need access to clean water," he says. "But there's a failure to realize that we're asking people to fight with one arm tied around their back if we don't address education.

"Education is a hand up," he says.

So, how does Room to Read offer a hand?

By putting books in the hands of children and in other tangible — and breathtakingly obvious — ways.

In several developing countries, Room to Read builds schools, establishes bilingual libraries stocked with donated books, publishes children's books in the local language and funds scholarships for girls. The idea is to fight illiteracy and break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time.

But Room to Read doesn't swoop down on a community and shower it with its Western-funded largesse. Room to Read requires strong local participation for its projects. Villages must cover a portion of a project's expense, often by donating labor, land or materials. In the group's view, the local commitment is critical to a project's success and sustainability. The majority of the nonprofit's 150 staff members and 1,000 volunteers live in countries where its projects are located.

(Room to Read is a member organization of the Clinton Global Initiative, which is holding its annual meeting on Sept. 26-28, in New York City.)

In any piece about John Wood or Room to Read, the story of how the organization came into being often plays center stage. It has the arch of a fable: Wealthy man takes a vacation, witnesses suffering, chucks his lucrative career to help, finds happiness.

The specifics of the Room to Read tale go like this:

In 1998, Wood needed a break from the consuming grind of his job as the director of business development in China for Microsoft. So, he planned a three-week trek in Nepal to unwind and unplug in the shadow of the Himalayas.

Early in the trip, he toured a primary school on the invitation of a Nepalese man he had met. As Wood describes in his memoir, "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World," he saw packed classroom after packed classroom. "The children sat on rows of long benches, crammed close together.

Lacking desks, they balanced notebooks on bony, little knees," he writes.

Then the tour moved onto the library, which was unlike any Wood had ever seen. There were no books, except for a handful of trekkers' castoffs — a Danielle Steel romance, a Lonely Planet guidebook, an Umberto Eco novel in Italian — all clearly inappropriate for the young students. Yet even this motley collection was considered so precious, the books were locked in a cabinet because the teachers worried the kids might damage them.

Wood couldn't believe it. The headmaster of the school noticed Wood's concern and offered a simple suggestion: "Perhaps, sir, you will someday come back with books."

And a year later, that's exactly what he did. Wood returned to the village with a convoy of donkeys loaded down with donated books. The villagers and schoolchildren greeted Wood and his long-eared entourage with garlands of flowers and heartfelt jubilation. (Read about Wood's return in "Leaving Microsoft," but keep a box of tissues handy.)

The following year Wood cashed in his Microsoft stock options to launch Room to Read. He said good-bye to the technology giant, his hefty paychecks and a girlfriend with four-star tastes.

Wood was 35 years old.

Now, seven years later, Wood puts in more hours than he ever did at Microsoft. He typically works 10 to 12 hour days, rarely takes a day off, and spends more time than seems possible on airplanes. He estimates that last year he logged more than a quarter-million miles in the air. (Needless to say, he's still single.)

And what does Wood hope he'll be doing another seven years from now? Exactly the same thing.

Room to Read staffers like to say that the organization has more aggressive expansion goals than Starbucks.

Since its inception, Room to Read has helped more than 1.3 million children in developing countries, according to the organization's Web site. It has established 3,800 libraries, built 287 schools, published about 150 children's book titles in local languages, created 136 computer and language labs, and funded 3,448 long-term scholarships for girls, which pay for tuition, school supplies and uniforms.

Currently, Room to Read has launched projects in Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. It plans to expand to Zambia, Bangladesh, Latin America, and on and on.
In November 2007, Room to Read plans to open it 5,000th library and hopes to double that number by 2010.

Although Wood is pleased with everything Room to Read has accomplished, when he considers the millions of kids who still have no access to education, he tells himself, "Get your a** back to your desk and get to work."

The deadlines Wood and his team deal with are a lot more pressing than any the corporate world could manufacture: the timeline of human biology. "Ninety percent of a child's brain capacity is developed during the fifth, sixth and seventh year. Once that opportunity's missed, you can't get it back," Wood says.

Wood, who has become a sort of global spokesman for literacy, will be on an education panel at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting.
But even if you're not at the invite-only event, as most of us won't be, Wood says, "Don't stay on the sidelines.

"We've never been in a time of such great personal wealth," Wood says. "Yet we still have a billion people in poverty." This problem, Wood believes, is one that can be solved. "Let's move. Let's be impatient. Let's get this done."

And with that, Wood goes back to work.

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To read about Room to Read's work, including its new initiative Literacy One, check out the organization's in-depth and readable Web site.

Watch the "Frontline" documentary on the nonprofit, which includes an interview with John Wood. Learn more about Frontline's social entrepreneurs.

For more information on the Clinton Global Initiative, click here.

Laurie Snyder is a senior editor at MSN.