I found a book last week on the New shelf in my library. The title – Leaving Microsoft to Change the World – intrigued me, so I checked it out.
The book is about the author’s life. John Wood worked at Microsoft during its heavy growth period, and ended up working in Asia the last part of his career. During one of his rare vacations, he ended up trekking in Nepal with a guide, and saw first hand how remote some villages are. Though the people had a strong desire to learn, the tools just weren’t readily available. So he pledged to the town he would return with books.
Room To Read was born.
Though it took another couple of years, he soon became disenchanted with working 20 hour days, and began putting his heart and soul into his mission of providing books and education to those that need it most.
To me, it’s amazing that you can educate a girl in one of these areas for a mere $250 a year. For $250, you can supply a girl with a bike to get to the school, a backpack filled with supplies, and tuition for the year’s worth of schooling. Amazing.
I’ve always been passionate about education, reading, and helping people achieve the most out of life. To me its very sad that in America, with everything available to us, not everyone in our population is graduating high school. Shouldn’t that just be a given here, since its our birth right?
I applaud people like John Wood who have dedicated their lives to attempting to educate the world’s population. Education is the key to survival. The more education we have, the more we question, and the more we can contribute to the population as a whole.
If you want to check out more on this wonderful cause, go to www.RoomToRead.org
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