Last year in a typical month we had less than 100 books checked out by students. This year, in October alone the PEPY library lent out 961 books to students from grades 2-8. This is phenomenal considering school didn’t actually even start until the 6th of October and there were several national holidays when school was closed down. Even in the first 4 days of November we have already had 118 books checked out!
Our librarian is requesting several hundred new books, as some of the students have plowed through every book we own already and some of the old favorites are in poor condition! Most books cost only one or two dollars. A ten dollar donation today can bring 5 more books to our library! Can you help contribute to buy a few new Khmer books? (click to donate)
In addition to more books, we are also expanding our library staff to keep up with growing demand. Khien Sak, a Child to Child educator from Chanleas Dai village will be joining our library team at the school, allowing us to keep the library open during lunch hours so that students can continue to read during breaks. In addition to Sak, this month we also welcome two additional Chanleas Dai literacy teachers; Mao, and Noun. This makes a total of 5 staff in Chanleas Dai who are wholly dedicated to improving Khmer literacy.
Stay tuned to our Team Journal for more updates on the library and literacy classes.
By Maryann Bylander