As I was checking out a book in our local library, I happen to see a book titled "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World" by John Wood. It's funny because I had no intention of borrowing any other book that day other than what I had already reserve since I still have around 10 books I had previously borrowed that I haven't read. But something made me pick up the book and look at the cover flaps. Upon reading it, I found out about how the author quit his high level job at Microsoft to establish libraries in Nepal.
It's kind of one of those moments when things happen because you were thinking about it often enough. Like hearing a music on the radio that you were just thinking about.
Even since I was in college, I had thought about how I can give back to the world. And it always ends up to helping young children have a better opportunities in life. Either through scholarships or as simple as giving some cash or clothes to street children in the Philippines.
As I got older, I realized I wanted to focus on providing libraries to children in the Philippines. I grew up reading books and have been fortunate enough to be able to afford to buy expensive books. But I see all these children on the streets and even some of my classmates who rarely read. True, they probably have better grades in school than I do, but the extent of their learning is limited to what they learn in school. There was no other avenues for intellectual growth let alone a place to borrow books to expand ones mind.
The school libraries we have are usually for Filipinianas or materials related to our courses. Even then, when you leave school, you have no access to the libraries. No one even bothers to go back to apply for an alumni access to the school libraries as it is inconvenient to commute or drive all the way to your old school just to borrow some books.
There is something called the National Library of the Philippines, but I don't even know anyone who's been there let alone know where it is located. Contrast that to what we have in Canada where libraries are pretty much in every city or district. And it's not just one, in Richmond alone, there are 4 libraries serving the city, 1 major and 3 satellite libraries. One is never more than 15 minutes away from the nearest library.
In the Philippines where I live, there was no library anywhere near our place. If you ever found a library, the books are probably too old or ones that you would never read anyway.
The libraries in Canada are filled with books of almost every subject matter. You can find reference books, For Dummies books, children's books, business, self-help, novels, sci-fi, non-fiction, audio CDs and even DVD movies. All for free.
I went from spending almost $500 a year in books to zero by just borrowing everything from the library.
I wish this was something we had in the Philippines years ago. But I realized now that this is something that will never happen as government priorities are somewhere else. Either to other social projects or through corruption. Education has also lag in terms of fiscal priority. I'm starting to think that the people in government are inclined to keep the population ignorant so they can easily buy their votes.
If you look at the collective intelligence of the current population, it seems that they are getting more and more ignorant. The shows on TV doesn't help either as they are mostly tele-series that provides nothing more than intrigues and who did what to whom. Or the more popular showbiz shows that does nothing but dish out intrigues and rumours.
There's tons of them, but I only see one educational show on air. And it's shown in a way that wouldn't even hold a child's interest. If you're one of the lucky ones who can afford cable TV, then you're in luck since you can have the Disney Channel to watch Little Einstein or Dora.
But I digress from the main point of what I'm writing. I was inspired by the book "Leaving Microsoft to Change The World" as this is very close to my heart. I had decided that I wanted to start a public library much like what Andrew Carnegie did when he started to give out his wealth.
I have to figure out how I can start something similar to "
Room to Read" but for the Philippines and what is needed to get it done. I might start with starting a book drive to donate to local schools. I'll have to look more into this when I go back to the Philippines.
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