..And How Are the Children?

Posted by admin on 03.20.2007 at 1:52 pm

Recently I had the pleasure of attending the Ecumenical Advocacy Days Conference in Washington D.C. which focused on education and advocating for global peace and justice through lobbying and service. It was so exciting to be among a group of concerned citizens who were working toward fixing a number of social ills specifically relating to children. The issues discussed included fixing No Child Left Behind, improving the public education system in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the recruitment of child soldiers in various conflicts, the school pipeline to prison phenomena and the impact of the ongoing Columbian conflict on children.

Additionally, this was a full circle moment for me as I attended the conference last year during which I heard Stephen Lewis the U.N convoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa say that “an African girls is 50 times less likely to contract HIV/AIDS if she is literate.” This one statement sparked my interest in literacy as a way to combat poverty and disease and led me to my work with Better World Books!

The conference reinforced for me that running a Better World Books drive is a tangible way for us to as Gandhi said “be the change we want to see in the world.”

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, Ecumenical Advocacy Days Conference, HIV and illiteracy

Literacy in the Context of Survival

Posted by admin on 10.09.2006 at 1:03 pm

For too many people literacy vs. illiteracy has become a question of life vs. death. Understanding the correlation between illiteracy, disease and poverty is not intended to contribute to fear and helplessness felt by many when observing the severity of HIV/AIDS crisis. Rather these studies are a cue for what we can all do today to combat this pandemic. UNESCO reports that:

“Given the impact of the epidemic worldwide, with nearly 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS, the role of literacy and non-formal education needs to be fully acknowledged and promoted as part of the overall response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.”

The most at risk population for contracting HIV/AIDS are the rural poor, particularly woman and girls who comprise 70% of the world’s impoverished population.  Our international literacy partners Books for Africa , Room to Read and World Fund serve the most vulnerable communities by helping them obtain the life long tool of literacy which assists in the reduction of poverty and access to education and appropriate information with regard to health related issues.

Although, our book drives encourage the small and simple act of donating a used textbook, the collective impact and results of these acts of kindness are anything but small. What’s so exciting about Better World Books is that by addressing illiteracy, one of the factors contributing to disease and poverty, we are able to provide a tangible way to address the gargantuan statistics and despondency surrounding the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, HIV and illiteracy, literacy, literacy statistics