Books for the people, by the people

(Kind of).

Zarah Gagatiga posts a great entry about Galing Foundation, a US-based literacy group which ships books to rural areas in the Philippines. I was disheartened to learn about Books For The Barrios‘ financial troubles since I really appreciated the work that they’ve been doing. I’m not sure if they have already folded or if the organization is still somehow afloat. I’m thankful that Galing Foundation is now in the picture though. At some point we need to hook all these book drives together under some sort of wide-ranging and efficiently run interface — maybe the DepEd’s Library Hub will do the trick or a putative reading campaign by the National Book Development Board. I’ve been testing a system which can keep track of donors and sort of match them up with donees but so far it’s still in beta (again, is there a way for me to do these things while sleeping?)

Filipino-American friends have been asking me if they can form RoD chapters in their communities in the US and–quite apart from the OMG FILIPINO READERS THE WORLD OVER SUPPORTING FILIPINO LITERATURE FOR GREAT JUSTICE factor–I’m really hopeful about what this could mean in terms of shipping books to the Motherland. The friends in question are young and dedicated and a few of them are working for publishing concerns in whose warehouses there are apparently BOOKS waiting to be donated. Should email them about Galing Foundation as well. Maybe they can combine powers.