Hello,
Let me forward this email to Foundation-l for other people feedback, and let's keep in touch with this in any case :-)
Florence Devouard
--- Marlies Klooster marliesklooster@gmail.com wrote:
This is the e-mail I meant.
Thank you!
Marlies
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jimmy Wales jwales@wikia.com Date: 17 July 2006 2:21:43 PM To: Marlies Klooster marliesklooster@gmail.com Subject: Re: Wikipedia and books for African
children
Thank you! :) You might consider sending this
email as well to
foundation-l@wikimedia.org so that more people in
our community will
see it and learn about this wonderful organization.
Marlies Klooster wrote:
Dear Mr Walsh,
I am impressed by the work and initiatives of
Wikimedia, especially
Wikipedia. You developed something that is truly
unique for our times
and I want you to compliment for that. Recently I
read an interview
with you in the Dutch newspaper NRC (www.nrc.nl) in
which you made the
intriguing remark that if Wikipedia were ever to
make money from
advertisements, you would want this money to go
to books for children
in Africa.
As a volunteer and fundraiser for Biblionef I
feel I should tell you
about this great book organization I know:
Biblionef. This NGO donates
new storybooks--free of charge--to needy
childrens organisations
throughout South Africa. (There are more
Biblionefs in other
countries, see http://www.biblionef.org/). Since 1999
Biblionef South Africa only
has donated over 250.000 books. Their target
group comprises children
living in disadvantaged communities who have no
access to books.
Biblionef is unique in South Africa in the sense
that the books they
donate are in each childs own language, which
means they cover all of
South Africas eleven languages.
In South Africa over 60% of schools have no
library and at least half
of them is located more than 40 miles away from a
public library. The
main aim of Biblionefs work is to establish a culture
of reading. This is
only possible when the books have an impact on
children. That is why
Biblionef carefully collects the books that will
be donated. In doing
so Biblionef closely cooperates with local
publishers in various ways.
Publishers donate newly published storybooks in
the African languages
to Biblionef. For other projects Biblionef initiates
reprints or
publications. Whenever possible Biblionef links
its donation to
existing reading initiatives or plans.
I personally worked with Biblionef for over a
year, during which we
created the website (www.biblionefsa.org.za) and
during which I had
the chance to visit a great number of schools and
libraries who had (or
asked for) Biblionef books. Some were really
small, some had hardly
any books but they were always FULL with children.
You have to visit an
African library to understand its importance in a
world deprived of
information and quiet workspace. A number of
those libraries is in the
process of getting computers and internet
connection, too. But doesn't
all learning and reading start with colourful
stories conveyed in
quality books? If you ever have the opportunity
to donate toward books
for children in Africa, I strongly hope you will
think of Biblionef.
Thank you so much for your time and
consideration.
Kind regards,
Marlies Klooster for: Biblionef South Africa http://www.biblionefsa.org.za
Biblionef is a member of the American Fund for
Charities, a 501(c)(3)
public charity that allows American individuals
and companies to make
tax-deductible donations to Biblionef SA through
their fund.
"Motho ke motho ka batho babang" (A person is a
person because of
others)
--
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