Vietnam’s Sunday of Love group has been helping connect the street children of Ho Chi Minh City with books since 2007, but only in 2014 was the first of the “1001 libraries in remote hamlets” built, in Binh Phuoc province.
Now there are more than 200 micro-libraries nationwide, fielding from 300 to 1000 books where previously there were none. The target is 1001 libraries by 2020.
Explained Sunday of Love founder Tu Anh,
We will not only give them books to set up libraries, but will also regularly send additional books. Each year we plan to organize 1 to 2 trips to deliver new book titles and make up the lost ones for the libraries.
We will link libraries in one district, commune, region, or schools with each other to help them exchange books to create new sources of books so the libraries will operate more efficiently.
While the focus is on children the reach of the books is wider, with books available not only at schools but also in,
hamlets’ houses of culture, and family libraries … pagodas, churches (and soon) prisons.
According to group members, they will try their best to link with communities to develop a network of libraries beyond their target of 1,001 in order to serve the needs of the poor nationwide.
VietnamNet.
