Our students honestly didn't read much. This made me really sad because I have such fond memories of reading ALL THE TIME as a kid. I love accelerated reader and I was all about the Boxcar Children, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Mr. Popper's Penguins.
I talked with our school librarian to get a little insight. Meet Angela. She happens to be the sweetest lady ever.
She explained that while the library seemed to be pretty full of books, the majority of the books were old and written in Russian or in Romanian, but in the cyrillic alphabet. This was really hard for the kids to read and definitely wasn't something that they would want to do in their leisure time. In addition to that the library is COLD. It was in a cold and distant part of the school building. (Below is a picture of our old library and some books written in cyrillic.)
Angela and I did a little more talking and decided to try to make some changes. We talked with the Romanian teachers and organized a student survey. The surveys confirmed our suspicions. Students reported not frequenting the library because of its lack of books, inconvenient location and cold temperature. Ninety-two percent of students said that they would read more if the library had books that would be of more interest to them.
With this information, we started implementing some changes. A room on the first floor near the entrance was made available and we started moving the library. This was a whole school effort. Students and teachers helped to move books, cleaning ladies gave the walls a fresh coat of paint, and individual teachers and students donated plants. (Below are a few pictures of the process.)
I talked with some other volunteers about our lack of books and another volunteer suggested that I contact the LDS Humanitarian Aid Representatives in Moldova. Not being Mormon myself and feeling a little concerned that they may try to proselytize, I was hesitant. The girl assured me that the organization worked soley to help, so I contacted Ray and Kathy McGovern. I am SO GLAD that I did.
They were wonderful. At no point was there ever any pressure and they were great to work with. I explained our school's situation, they came for a visit, and within a month, we went book shopping.
My partners said it was so much fun to shop, pick out whatever you want and to have someone else pay. : ) It definitely was a lot of fun for us, but it was like Christmas morning for the kids. Many students waited for about an hour after school to see the new books. We had a really warm reception from students and teachers even prepared a special meal as a thank you.
The library is now full of kids all the time. They are reading. My partners and I could not be happier.
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