A Man on A Mission...

A bit of an inspirational story. And yes, I admit it. It came from Oprah which I watch on a semi annual basic. Glad I tuned in yesterday..

In 1998 a very successful Mircosoft Executive who rubbed shoulders with Bill Gates took some time out from the Corporate World and took a hiking trip to Nepal. Visiting a small village, he found their school in poor condition and a lack of books. Most titles were cast offs from Backpackers and inappropriate for young kids. He promised to return with some. A man in the village told him many promise to do so, but none ever had. He soon came back with mules and books that he and his family had gathered.. And it changed his life and the lives of many others.

He went back to work and told Oprah how Bill Gate's PA would e-mail him about something he was in charge of and he would read it. Ho hum. Then he would get an e-mail from someone offering to donate 20 books and he would get excited.

The short version is he left his job and began getting books donated to deliver to places and people that did not have them. The project is now huge and takes all of his time. More than organising book delivery, he now has facilitated school building and even the publication of children's books in native languages in many different countries.

I like this guy, and I love his story.. and his mission..

And he is looking for donations - books or cash..


From one of his sites
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Over the next five years John would make the unlikely marriage between Microsoft business practices and the world of non-profits to create Room to Read, an organization that has created a network of over 5,500 schools and libraries throughout rural and poor communities in Asia and Africa.

The organization is now one of the fastest growing, most effective, and award-winning non-profits of the last decade. John has been recognized in the worldwide media as a "21st century Andrew Carnegie," building a public library infrastructure to help the developing world break the cycle of poverty through the lifelong gift of education.

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Results to Date
Since inception in 2000, Room to Read has impacted the lives of over 1.9 million children by:

* Constructing 442 schools
* Establishing over 5,630 libraries
* Publishing 226 new local language children's titles representing over 2 million books
* Donating over 2.2 million English language children's books
* Funding 6,922 long-term girls' scholarships
* Establishing 155 computer and language labs

Source and brief history www.roomtoread.org/about/index.html

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In His Own Words
See John describe the book in his own words in this short video:
Check www.leavingmicrosoftbook.com/
They have a youtrube channel www.youtube.com/user/Roomtoread
The Web site www.roomtoread.org/ and history www.roomtoread.org/about/index.html