Nargis Library Recovery

NARGIS LIBRARY RECOVERY PROJECT– NEWSLETTER #16, JUNE 2010

UPDATES

• The last of American President Line’s six donated containers loaded with our books will be hoisted aboard APL Vietnam and steam from Port Seattle on June 23^rd. Not only is this a free berth on one of their ships, they also pay the cost in Singapore of transfer and shipping on a smaller freighter to navigate up the Malay Peninsula into Yangon’s narrow Hlaing River. Their corporate contribution has been a significant feature of our project; henceforth we must scramble for cash to maintain our bi-monthly flow of 50,000 books [about $6,000 per container].

• United Nations Women’s Guild in Vienna has approved a grant for 7,000 Euros to reconstruct a library in Laputta, a truly devastated township in the delta. Daw Ah Win, UN librarian and adviser to NLR guided our proposal through the highly competitive process. We hope to open this community library to receive our books by year’s end. Sayadaw Ashin Dhammapiya will oversee fund transfer and reconstruction.

• At our quarterly board of directors’ teleconference a budget of $24,000 for operations was approved to pay cost of shipping three containers between September 2010 and February 2011, half of our fiscal year. This will also cover administrative and fund raising costs. As APL’s donated berths for our containers are exhausted, we must again depend on donors to keep our books flowing from Thrift Books warehouses.

• Dr. Thant Thaw Kaung has signed an agreement between MBAPF and World Vision which enables us to partner with them in distributing both English and Myanmar language books to libraries in Bogalay and Pyapon. This is a significant contribution of their internal staff support and freight costs from our Yangon warehouse.

Our proposals to AID and the U.S. Embassy in Yangon to seek funds to support library recovery were rejected this past month. Our request for a special appropriation in Congress to fund library reconstruction was also rejected. We continue to troll among foundations and other  governmental sources for the necessary support so essential to a better future in Irrawaddy Delta communities.