nice+people+give+books+to+poor

US couple ship books to poor RP barrios By Jocelyn Uy Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 07:13:00 03/03/2009 Filed Under: [news&id=927&imp=|Good news],[Books&id=137&imp=| Books],[history&id=1000&imp=| history],[Libraries & Museums&id=10&imp=| Libraries & Museums],[Education&id=224&imp=| Education] In the last two decades, an American couple have been shipping to the poorest villages in the Philippines hundreds of boxes containing all sorts of books—except those that they think might lead to a notion of a fresh attempt at US colonization. Running “Books for the Barrios” program from an old warehouse in Concord, California, retired Navy pilot Dan Harrington and his wife Nancy make sure that no US history books, biographies and teen pocketbooks such as “Sweet Valley” get into their monthly shipment. “There are some nationals here that might say we’re trying to colonize this country again, which is ridiculous and irrational,” Nancy, a former teacher, said in a recent interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net). Besides, she pointed out, schoolchildren in poor villages were not being taught US history unless they went to an exclusive school. Her remark came at a downturn in the RP-US “love-hate” relationship because of unresolved issues over custody of Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, who was convicted in 2006 of raping a Filipino woman, “Nicole.” The American couple were wrapping up a two-month annual visit to the Philippines when the Inquirer caught up with them at a hotel in Makati City after their trip to Aklan province. Every year, Nancy and Dan fly to the countryside to check on the progress of public schools they had helped to build libraries so that book-starved students can enjoy high-quality reading materials. Since 1981, the program has shipped more than 10 million books in 40-foot containers at three or four-week intervals, paving for the construction of more than 10,000 school libraries and the training of more than 500,000 teachers. Inside the containers are crates the size of apple boxes usually etched with colorful drawings by American children taking part in the donation and the packing. “The finest education materials are in these boxes. They are either brand new or headed for California’s landfills,” according to Dan. “Our policy is to give them to needy children but the practice is to destroy the stuff,” Dan said, referring to the dumping of those books into US landfills. “But if you were to make it clear in the US that it is necessary to have these treasures transferred into your schools, the problem of lack of reading resources will be addressed quickly.” Roughly 90 million books often go to the dumps in the United States each year, Dan pointed out. But “Books for the Barrios” makes sure that these landed in the libraries of the poorest schools in the Philippines. Majority of the books are gathered from the remaining stocks of textbook publishers and rejects of local school districts and libraries all over western United States. There are college textbooks in Math, Science and English, National Geographic magazines, encyclopedias and dictionaries, clean scrap papers, bedtime story books, puzzles, tennis balls, arts and crafts supplies, baseball gloves and new or partially used workbooks. But the program turns down American or state history and biographies, adult novels, “Sweet Valley” and “Kate and Ashley” teen pocketbooks, cookbooks, religion books, winter clothing, jackets, typewriters, fax machines, among others. Nancy said she and her husband did not want to send the wrong message that Americans were out to take over the Philippines again. But it was important to send books written in English because it is the language of instruction in many developing nations, including the Philippines, she said. Filipino Ephraim Toche, vice president of “Books for the Barrios” in the Philippines, said the organization had cultural sensitivities too. It was careful not to send religion books or materials discussing only one country in war-torn areas, especially in Mindanao, Toche said. “We don’t want to add more conflict to these areas.” Impoverished schools in Basilan, Sulu, Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Cagayan de Oro City and isolated tribes in Davao del Sur and southern Cotabato have been regular recipients of books sent by the organization. “We only send what the Department of Education requires us to send,” Dan said, adding that the program finally got the attention of the education department and institutionalized it in 2004. “This is not the time to wonder whether we hurt nationalism. This is the only lifeline we have to literacy in a struggling democracy,” he added. And the couple, already in their retirement age, needed dedicated and trustworthy people to take over their 26-year-old project. “Our time is up, there is no exit plan so we need someone to take over this,” Nancy said.
 * Rescued from landfills**
 * Cultural sensitivities**