How It Started
The idea
The idea was to deliver books to underprivileged children in Brazil. I was not sure exactly how to go about it, but I did know one thing: low-income children in Brazil are not used to having books for pleasure. Therefore, I knew I had to show them how interesting and fun books are by reading out loud to them. I also wanted to demonstrate that it is ok for them to read, too.
Since I was working with donated money I wanted to have some proof that I indeed gave away the books. So, I created a form with the child’s name, the name of the book he/she received, and the signature of the parent or responsible guardian confirming that they got the book.
I also thought this would be a good chance to learn a few things about the families. I created a form asking them things such as: names and address of the parents, whether they had attended school, and if so, until what grade; if they had children’s books at home; whether they or someone else in their family could read books to the children, the names of all their children, their dates of birth, and if they had ever visited a library.
This project might be a small one, but for now, this is one way to give back a tiny bit of what I have received so far. Thank you all so much for helping me in this endeavor, and making a dream come true.
First Delivery – Sunday, May 16, 2004
You can view pictures from our first two deliveries in our photo gallery
We decided to approach three families at a time. We would gather their children together, read and distribute books, and then move to the next three families. In the first house we stopped, there were three children. While we stood in front of the house with colorful balloons, one volunteer started talking to the parents, and I started organizing the kids to read to them. After the reading, I took the books out of my bag and asked each one of the children to choose one. As I did this, many other children and parents approached us. They were curious to know what this was all about. So, I organized another little group of children and started reading again…
Within two hours, we couldn’t even move around the first family’s sidewalk! That day alone we delivered 21 books and lots of balloons. We were very pleased by the reaction of the families and the children. Some parents congratulated us and said this was a good thing to do. One mother told me, “I hope you can do this again.” One little girl was crying when she found out she liked the book her friend got better. Since we had more of the same book, we exchanged it for her.
On the way out, one of the boys was crying because he wanted a book but he didn’t have a father or a mother. He was living with an uncle who didn’t want to come out of the house to get him a book. We made sure the little boy had a book to take home.
Second Delivery – Sunday, May 23, 2004
You can view pictures from our first two deliveries in our photo gallery
We borrowed a small metal table from my sister’s house, got the books, more balloons and left for the delivery event. This time, we walked inside the favela area. The road was made of dirt and not a good place to ask the children to sit. We found an alley with stairs made of concrete. It was the perfect spot.
We set up the table with books, blew up some balloons to hang around the area. Suddenly, I saw lots of children running towards us. I was amazed! Once I caught my breath back, I asked them to sit down on the stairs and explained to them that we were going to read some books and give away balloons. To my surprise, they all sat down in a very organized fashion, so I grabbed two books from the table. One about the ocean and the other about a farm. Which one did they want me to read? They replied very excitedly: the farm book!
That was a great book with hidden pictures and they loved to guess what was behind. They were thrilled when they guessed right, and when they got it wrong they also expressed their emotions. I also wanted to read other books with more substance, but I realized that the longer the books were, the less attentive the children became.
When I pulled one book with large print, one boy in the audience cried out loud, ”I can read this book!” It was a great idea and the other children were also interested to see their friend read. Towards the middle of the story, the boy decided he didn’t want to read anymore. I asked him to continue because he was doing such a great job and if he finished reading I would give that book to him. He was surprised and excited and finished reading it. That’s when all the other kids realized they would also get books to take home and suddenly, the balloons were not the main attraction anymore!
It was hard to keep everyone calm and organized while distributing the books. Thankfully, one of the mothers started helping us. The volunteers wrote the information from the parents (if they were present and noted if they were absent) as fast as they could. At one point, we couldn’t keep up with blowing up balloons and giving out books, so another parent decided to help us as well.
We realized that many of the better books were taken and some children got sad because they couldn’t have their favorite book. One child so disappointed and said, “I will not take another book. I want that one and if you don’t have I won’t get anything!” That made me sad. I tried to convince him to get one book now, and that I would contact him later on with the book he wanted, as I was doing the same for the other children. The boy replied “I don’t believe in you. You will never come back and you are just saying it!” At this point, some other families started requesting specific books. I couldn’t guarantee those requests to everyone but I didn’t want to disappoint them either. I explained that the books were donations from lots of other people and that I would report the distribution so that we could receive more donations. If that happened, then I would be able to grant their specific book requests. They understood.
The crowd slowly dissipated. The volunteers and I looked at each other: we were all exhausted. We smiled as we realized we had pulled another delivery event together! I can say that the second delivery event was better than the first one, and that the third event will be even better. We are learning as we go. The important thing was that the children were happy with the books, and that we have added a little magic to their lives.
Targeting libraries
You can view the pictures of the libraries in our photo gallery
The library plays a very important role in the American society. I have learned this while living here in Boston, so I wanted to compare with the role of a library in that community. Here is what I found out:
Only the main library in the city of Maua (population of 400 thousand) has a children’s room. As you can see in the picture, the children’s room has a very formal set-up, a school format. The books are not at the children’s eye level where they can just grab one to read. I spoke with Edna Sousa, who is responsible for all the public libraries in the city, and I proposed to her about taking some pictures of a few children’s room in the Boston’s libraries so she could see how it is done here. Edna seemed to be interested and she also liked the idea of possibly receiving children’s books for the library.
Edna also said that the government maintains the libraries, and that most books they receive from the community are books that cannot be re-used because they have old information or are in a very bad condition. The two library branches I visited, Dias Gomes and Castro Alves, were smaller than the main library and by looking at the photos, you can see how few books they have. I was mostly surprised by the amount of children’s books the library Dias Gomes had: less than 20. As you can see, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Together we can make a difference!