NARGIS LIBRARY RECOVERY NEWSLETTER #10
David Leuthold is our board chairman, proposed this timeline of NLR accomplishments in 2009, which I have redrafted with more details. Our board will teleconference Tuesday, December 15th [16th in Myanmar/Thailand] to lay out 2010 goals and plans to attain them. Donors and interested observers are welcome to email ideas to help rebuild libraries.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
May 2-3, 2008–Nargis Cyclone hits Myanmar, killing 140,000, leaving one million homeless. Myanmar Government initially unable to provide aid and resisted foreign aid, creating negative press; but within days monks & business leaders helped finance indigenous Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) medical volunteers. Within three weeks established international NGOs with health and community programs entered the devastated region. Large amounts of aid contributed by UNICEF, Save the Children, World Vision, Doctors Without Borders, and a coalition of international agencies known as the Tripartite Core Group.
July 26—John Badgley, founder of Institute of the Rockies [IR] and Allen Bjergo, Vice President, IR, meet with original IR Associates David/Carolyn Leuthold to discuss IR sponsorship of private educational program in Myanmar.
August 17—Dr. Thant Thaw Kaung ,owner of Myanmar Book Centre [MBC] emails Badgley proposing emergency assistance to local libraries in delta through Myanmar Book Aid Foundation [MBAF]. In 2001 Thant’s father, university librarian U Thaw Kaung and Badgley formed MFAF to continue manuscript and book preservation projects they started in 1988. Thant is executive secretary of MBAF boar of leading librarians, publishers and business people.
June-September–$8,750 donated by four American families through the Institute of the Rockies, a charitable foundation created by Badgley in 1974 for human resource development. .
September-October—Corey Urbach, Manager, Lynnwood Half -Price Books and Carolyn Aamot, University of Washington [UW] Gifts Librarian, contribute 8,000 English-language books, English is required 2nd language in schools. Shipment in 20 foot container, Seattle to Yangon costs $5,500, or 75 cents per book.
December–Container clears Yangon port & trucked to Myanmar Book Centre compound for $800; volunteers from MBAPF & MBC unpack, sort and prepare to distribute books in January.
December 16—Hector Rivas, CEO of Thrift Books, reaches Carolyn Aamot, UW Gifts librarian, after investigating 150 organizations, offers to donate large number of books to one charity. Thrift Books, has six book warehouses around the United States. If books do not sell within a few months, Thrift Books donates or pulps them. The value of the book at this point is its labor and storage cost. Rivas offers one million books to Myanmar, conditional on shipments beginning ASAP. Value of this donation within Myanmar will be $3 million.
2009
January 26—In Washington D.C., U. S. Treasury OFAC grants Badgley license of exception to broad sanctions against Burma, permitting financial aid to help libraries recover and to ship books.
February 2 – Seattle Trust donates $2500 to NLR
Feb 22–Books from 1st container sold at Yangon charity fair raise $5300 + $1300 in donations. $5000 will be used to buy Burmese language texts for delta libraries. Academic & unsold trade books go to college and university libraries. $300 paid to MBC staff who worked 4 days from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. MBC also contributed $700 & spent a month preparing the charity bazaar. Sold about 2,000 books @ Kyat 2,500 [$2.80]each. $500 contributed to NLR from Daw Ah Win, Vienna, Austria
April—After several false starts, 2nd container shipped from Seattle to Yangon, containing 50,000 books–@ $7500, including port clearances. From Yangon, our first container of books is distributed to delta libraries: 9,000 Burmese textbooks, 1,000 children books in English & 8,200 exercise books (3 exercise books for each student) to 2,700 students. Subjects of textbooks are Burmese & English language, math, science, geography and history.
May 13 – Fidelty Trust donates $1000.
May 25–Seattle Trust donates $2500
May–American President Lines donates shipping for six containers in coming year. Value of shipping each container is $4000, total in-kind value is $24,000. Badgley files application for Nargis Library Recovery as non-profit Corporation in State of Washington. Articles of Incorporation and by-laws are adopted via email by directors.
12 June—58 libraries receive our English books, 130 school libraries take our Myanmar language books; our 2nd container arrives.
13 July 18–Directors of Nargis Library Recovery formally organize via teleconference, hosted by Allen/Jackie Bjergo in Corvallis, MT Present are Bjergo, Jack/Sue Simpson, David/Carolyn Leuthold and Badgley. Dave Richards and Thant Thaw Kaung participate by phone. Officers elected are Leuthold, Chair, Bjergo, Secretary; Richards, Treasurer, and Badgley, Executive Director; Jack Simpson, Thant Thaw Kaung and Hector Rivas elected directors. Directors pledge $12,000 to finance operations through remainder of 2009.
July –Yangon–Thant purchases 40 ft. container for $2000 with $1000 improvements to store books.. most of month to sort into books to sell & generate funds for Myanmar language books, those to donate directly…and a very small portion to destroy as not suitable for donation or sale. Very difficult work because of heavy rain, decides to buy an air conditione for the container.
July 31–Badgley mails application to US Dept. of Treasury, IRS, for Nargis Library Recovery’s 501 (c) (3) status so contributions will be direct to NLR, we will end IR sponsorship.
August 10—Third container of 20,000 books shipped from Seattle port to Yangon, to arrive early October.
August 16 Yangon–second charity book fair raises $6550, buys $3500 worth of Burmese texts for delta libraries.
September 15– 30,000 English books from 1st & 2nd containers distributed to 73 delta libraries, 10,000 Burmese texts distributed to 13 of these same libraries
October 7– Third container of 20,000 books arrives in Yangon. Fourth container with 50,000 books shipped from Seattle to arrive early December
October 27-31 –Directors John Badgley, Hector Rivas, Jack & Sue Simpson, plus Hector Rivas and Thant Thaw Kaung tour delta. Return for roundtable on 31st with MBAF directors; hold separate meetings with Larry Dinger, Chief of Mission, and Marc Porter, US Commercial Attaché; attend dinner meeting hosted by Burmese donor, Bernard Pe Win, including Ambassador Dinger, French and Philippine Ambassadors, and Nicolas Terraz, Total’s Myanmar representative.
November 1-4 Mandalay charity book fair raises $23,000 for MBAF from sale of Thrift Books donated to NLR
November 4–Badgley, Thant and U Thaw Kaung meet Singapore Ambassador Robert Chua, head of Tripartite Core Group to discuss donation to fund five libraries in 2010.
November 5–Ashin Dhammapiya invites Badgley and Yangon University Librarian, Daw Khin Hnin Oo to his monastery, proposes collaboration to select and develop library boards and reconstruct libraries in the delta.
Dec. 5–website www.Nargislibrary.org incorporated with blog, 10th newsletter posted.
Dec. 8–Leuthold chairs teleconference with NLR directors to discuss 2010 plans;
Dec 10-1–Badgley to Washington D.C. for meetings with U.S. officials and representatives on the US-ASEAN Business Council to seeking funding for library reconstruction
Dec. 20-24th–Fifth container of 50,000 books shipped from Seattle port to Yangon, arriving mid-February, 2010
Funds raised from start of project: $40 K by NLR, $41 K by MBAF plus more than one million books
Loading...