CARE
One Book at a Time
ON THE FRONTLINE OF COMBATING GLOBAL ILLITERACY IS THE
AWARD-WINNING ORGANISATION ROOM TO READ, FOUNDED
IN 2000 BY FORMER MICROSOFT EXECUTIVE, JOHN WOOD,
ERIN GANJU AND DINESH SHRESTHA Text Hastings Forman Photos Room to Read
It is difficult to imagine where we
would be without basic literacy. As
a foundational skill, it improves our
reasoning, creativity, and allows
for further education and career
opportunities. For many of us, it
is perhaps too easy to become
complacent about the ability to read
and write.
And yet, according to UNESCO’s
statistics on literacy, nearly 17 percent
of the world’s adult population, some
775 million people, are illiterate, and
a further 122 million youth cannot read
or write, with as many as two-thirds of
them being women or girls. Without
this basic education, denied to them
by the accident of their birth, mostilliterate people are doomed by default
to remain in poverty, unable to better
themselves, their families and their
local communities.ROOM TO READ
In 1998, while trekking in Nepal,
John Wood visited a primary school
of around 450 children. The absence