October 17, 2018

The Library Project’s Largest Book Collection Campaign in 2018!

The Library Project’s book collection campaign at Pathway school recently ended, and we’re excited to announce a total of 815 Vietnamese children’s books were donated!

From September 5 to September 21, The Library Project held its “A Book a Dream” book collection campaign at Pathway school in District 2 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The campaign’s aim was to collect used children’s books that The Library Project could use in its programming to improve children’s literacy and education in Vietnam. The Pathway district 2 location teaches Kindergarten through grade 5, and has around 700 students in total.

The students, teachers, staff and even parents donated 815 books to The Library Project through the campaign! We recently met with Mr. Vo Duc Thien, a Mindfulness Coach at the school, working directly with the teachers to create a safe, calm environment in the classrooms. We asked him why he thought the collection was such a huge success and why so many students got involved. He explained, “We teach a lot about karma at Pathway, about how it is important to do good things to help other people. I think that is why so many students donated books.”

Students at Pathway school take time to meditate and reflect.

Proof of this concept became clear when The Library Project staff were organizing the newly collected books. One of the books contained a note in Vietnamese from the student that translates to, “[My name is] Phuong Diep. I am giving you my most favorite book.”

A student writes in the book he donated, “I am giving you my most favorite book.”

Phuong Diep’s book, along with the 814 others, were age-appropriate for the children The Library Project serves and in Vietnamese language. This means The Library Project can donate these books to the schools in rural Vietnam where we work and to orphanages in Ho Chi Minh City where we conduct Literacy Programs. 

This is the largest book collected campaign The Library Project has received this year and we are so grateful to Pathway in District 2 for their generosity. We’re thankful to work with a school that is teaching children the same values of bravery and kindness that we have in our libraries at TLP. A special thanks to our interns, Ms. Phuong and Ms. Chau, for creating the “A Book a Dream” campaign and helping The Library Project partner with such a wonderful school.

TLP interns, Ms. Phuong and Ms. Chau, who created the A Book a Dream campaign.

To learn more about The Library Project and how you can get involved please visit our website.