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How
Many
Books?
How
many books do you have in your home? More than ten?
More than one hundred? Maybe more than a |
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Children
in a Child Literacy center showing off books they
have just received. |
thousand? Visit a typical Haitian home and there is
a good chance you won’t find a single book.
Libraries are equally rare in Haiti. And not even
public schools supply their students with textbooks.
Students who cannot afford to buy their own textbooks
must copy texts from the chalkboard each day. The
lack of books in Haiti is a serious challenge to the
advancement of literacy and education.
Beyond
Borders is responding to this challenge by investing
more and more in the publication and printing of native
language books for both children and adults. These
are usually very simple books, printed in black and
white on inexpensive paper. But even the plainest
book is highly prized and read and re-read by many
people. |
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This
year Beyond Borders established a special fund specifically
for the production and distribution of books in Haiti.
There are several books we hope to publish, print,
and distribute in the coming months.
Though
the cost per book varies |
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The Rasin Lespwa library in Darbonne, is
one of Haiti's few community libraries. Beyond Borders
is cooperating with Rasin Lespwa in the publication
of a new book for the Reflection Circle project.
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on the length of the book and the quantity printed,
most books cost less than $5 per copy. You can contribute
to the Haitian Book Fund by simply writing “books”
on the memo line of your contribution to Beyond Borders.
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The
B-I-B-L-E
The
Bible is certainly the most prized book in Haiti
and the most readily available book, too. Unfortunately,
most Bibles in Haiti are printed either in French,
a language very few in Haiti can read, or they
are printed in a form of Haitian Creole that
uses an outdated spelling system that is difficult
for newly literate Haitians to read. This helps
explain the near riotous celebration that breaks
out at Beyond Borders adult literacy centers
when Bibles printed in the official spelling
system are distributed to participants. For
many participants, their new Bible instantly
becomes their most prized procession. |
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