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Our Vision

Room to Read believes that World Change Starts with Educated Children. We envision a world in which all children can pursue a quality education that enables them to reach their full potential and contribute to their community and the world.

Our Mission

Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.

From their website.
http://www.roomtoread.org/

Who’s The Best Teacher For Your Kids?

Got this from Bo's blog today:

I believe the best teacher is mommy and daddy.
Some parents tutor their kids after school. And that’s fantastic.
But shouldn’t some parents be the school for their kids? That’s called homeschool. Yes, I agree that it isn’t for everyone. There are families that simply won’t be able to homeschool, and that’s why there are great traditional schools around. But if you’re interested in homeschooling, take a look at www.CatholicFilipinoAcademy.com now. It might just be the answer to your prayers for your kids.

Save a Child's Life!

I got this from my daily Gospel and reflection email from Kerygma Family. I strongly believe this is such an urgent issue that I thought I should share it with you.

"A couple of weeks before I received this assignment to write for Didache 2010, I attended a media forum, the Bulong Pulungan held at the Hotel Sofitel, where the guest was Edu Manzano, chair of the Optical Media Board, whose mandate is to confiscate pirated CDs or DVDs. Edu showed samples of DVDs he has confiscated — showing what he called “appalling, stomach wrenching” pornography involving girls in their puberty.

A week after that, I received an invitation to attend a press conference on human trafficking. The guest was Kristie Kenny, United States Ambassador to the Philippines. She called on everyone to make the fight against human trafficking “the fight of our lifetime.”

Then, a couple of weeks later, Rey Ortega, founder of Tahanan ng Pagmamahal, an orphanage supported by the Light of Jesus, gave me an article where he wrote about the wards of Tahanan. One of them was a rape victim.

Yes, children are being attacked by adults who are supposed to nurture and protect them. Indeed, as the Gospel today points out, evil lurks in our midst. Let us pray for the victims, let us pray for strength for those who are working to save the children, and let us do what we can to fight this evil."

-- Cynthia Santiago

I agree wholeheartedly with this reflection. Child abuse is evil. So is child trafficking, child pornography, child labor and every other offense committed against children, major or minor.

It's horrible how media overlooks these types of abuse and practices as well. Sure, the latest showbiz or political scandal can be quite entertaining and informative, respectively, but something should be done about the horrible attacks against children. They should be exposed, the wrongdoers, I mean, as well as their offenses.

In fact, imho, I think for every newspaper or television/radio station out there, there should be at least one reporter covering this issue on a daily basis. I'm not kidding! And for those media outlets who are already doing this, more power to you!

Seriously, human rights abuses are never acceptable, no matter how minor the offense is, especially those committed against women and children. We should all speak up, especially since we've got technology right at our fingertips.

Child pornography is just not right! Neither is child abuse or human trafficking, particularly involving children. Isn't it about time we did something more than read or talk or write about it? Prayers help, a lot! So does action! I think it's time to brainstorm about possible ways to solve this problem. Or maybe just jump in and start an online campaign? What do you think?


I'd really love to help out, I hope this spurs you into action too. We don't have to rush to the streets, I think little things will do. One voice added to another one and yet another one makes one heck of a ruckus, don't you think. Hey, I'm not urging chaos here, just action -- serious, well-guided action. Let your opinion be heard!


Save the children! Save the world!

Stop Child Abuse!

Children deserve to live a happy, normal childhood. Stop child abuse and violence against children and women! There are many organizations out there whose main goal is to protect children against abuse. One of them is Women's Crisis Center Manila. Visit http://www.wccmanila.com/contact.php to help out.