The Libraries in Afghanistan Project
Background Information
This project first began in 1998, as a result
of the publication of my second book
The Roses in My Carpets. The book
is based on the story of my Afghan refugee foster child and all
royalties go towards the sponsorship and helping of child refugees and
orphans. When the book came out, for the first five years I used the
advance and royalties to sponsor children from war torn areas.
But when the book was sold to a third publisher I received a new advance
of $3000, plus back royalties. With those funds I launched this
Libraries in Afghanistan as a long term project.
Also a Japanese publisher has bought rights to The Roses in My Carpets,
and of course my share of the advance has gone to this project.
In short, this is a project made possible by all those who have
bought the book!
I hope you will continue to support this worthy cause. If your school
would like to help raise funds, let me know and I will mention it on
this page in the future, as time allows.
Many thanks to all who have supported and donated this program. Please
continue to do what you can. God bless.
After having set up the libraries in Allahudin orphanage (see pictures
below), I have now partnered this project up with
I.B.B.Y. Canada's
Children in Crisis fund! I.B.B.Y. stands for International Board on
Books for Young People and is a global organization dedicated to
promoting literacy.
All future donations can be sent to IBBY Children in Crisis Fund. Please
make sure to mention that they’re for the libraries and orphanages in
Tajikistan and Afghanistan project.
Their address:
IBBY Canada
Children in Crisis Fund
c/o The Canadian Children's Book Centre
40 Orchard View Blvd.
Suite 101
Toronto, Ontario
M4R 1B9
(please write "Children in Crisis Fund" on the memo line)
Updates
2009
$749.07 from Oakridge P.S.! Yay! Oakridge!!!
$30 donated by Beatty Fleming P.S.
$33 general donations and $100 from me, for a total of
$912.07 for 2009.
2008
Royalties came up to $150.00 and were donated to the I.B.B.Y. Children
in Crisis fund. I hope to have some pictures of the funds in action
soon. The president of IBBY is attending a conference in Tajikistan in
March of 2009 and will be sending me updates that I can post very soon,
God willing.
2007
God bless Oakridge P.S.! They did it again! They raised $290.88
and donated it to this project! With my royalties came to a grand total
of $411.14. This money was sent to IBBY Canada (see address above) for
their Children in Crisis fund. When I sent the funds, I had originally
asked for them to be applied to the project in Gaza or Lebanon. IBBY is
using bibliotherapy to help children in war-ravaged areas, but it seems
the Gaza fund and Lebanon funds were already fully funded. Same with the
Columbia fund. What a dilemma! But good news! The fine people at IBBY
said they'd use this money to start a new fund, in Tajikistan and
Afghanistan!
2006
We've raised more funds! Children from Oakridge P.S. donated
$129.33 to orphanages in Afghanistan project. From royalties of Roses I
brought the total to $500. That money has been used to help set up more
libraries.
Steps to Literacy Project 2005
The funds we raised came to over $6500. About $4000 of that were from the royalties and new advance for The Roses in My Carpets.
Audra Prewitt, a lady from California who works directly with the minister of orphanages in Afghanistan hand-delivered the funds. These are the pictures she sent to me of the library we helped establish in the Allahudin orphanage (an orphanage in Kabul) which houses about 500 boys and 200 girls. The boys range from the ages of 5-12 and the girls from the ages 5- 18. Thanks go out to the ISAF, (International Security Afghan Forces). These are soldiers from various countries including France, Poland, America and Canada. They’re under the U.N. mandate and are in Afghanistan to train the Afghan forces. While there they’ve helped the orphans by fixing their bathrooms and helping with this library project.
In addition, the orphanages received donations of computers from IIRO, the International Islamic Relief Organization, so the children will have access to the world community through the computers.
Click Here to View the Photo Gallery for the
Project