January 31, 2005: Headlines: COS - Honduras: NGO's: Service: Libraries: China Daily: The Riecken foundation was created in 2000 by Allen Andersson who served in the Peace Corps in Honduras in the 1960s.
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January 31, 2005: Headlines: COS - Honduras: NGO's: Service: Libraries: China Daily: The Riecken foundation was created in 2000 by Allen Andersson who served in the Peace Corps in Honduras in the 1960s.
The Riecken foundation was created in 2000 by Allen Andersson who served in the Peace Corps in Honduras in the 1960s.
The Riecken foundation was created in 2000 by Allen Andersson who served in the Peace Corps in Honduras in the 1960s.
Riecken foundation libraries in central America
Gary Garriott
I'm Phoebe Zimmermann with the VOA Special English Development Report.
Andrew Carnegie became rich in the American steel industry. But he spent much of his life giving away his money. One of his main interests was developing libraries in small towns. Andrew Carnegie died in 1919.
Now a non-profit group in the United States has taken some of his ideas to Central America, especially Guatemala and Honduras. The Riecken Foundation has opened 15 libraries in the past five years. Seven more are being built.
The goal is to help people explore new worlds. Not just through books, but also through computers connected to the Internet. The hope is to build as many as 1000 libraries throughout Central America.
The Riecken Foundation provides much of the cost of building the structures as well as paying for the books and computers. The group also trains committees to make the policies that govern how a library operates. Members of these library committees are not paid. They provide land for the building and pay for a full-time librarian. They also pay for water and electricity for the library.
Some of the people who work for the Riecken Foundation are former members of the Peace Corps. This government program sends Americans to help communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. They work for two years or more with very little pay.
The foundation was created in 2000 by Allen Andersson, a businessman. He served in the Peace Corps in Honduras in the 1960s. The very first employee, Meredith Bellows, served in Guatemala several years ago. Now she is a director of the foundation.
Miz Bellows worked in the small community of San Juan la Laguna. A story in G.W. Magazine in 2002 described her work. Miz Bellows trained poor women who received small business loans. She told how she taught one woman to bake bread in ovens built from simple materials.
The library in the town is extremely small. But things are about to change. Meredith Bellows tells us that this week a bigger library will be completed in San Juan la Laguna.
Internet users can learn more about the Riecken Foundation at riecken.org.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Gary Garriott. I'm Phoebe Zimmermann.
When this story was posted in January 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| RPCVs mobilize support for Countries of Service RPCV Groups mobilize to support their Countries of Service. Over 200 RPCVS have already applied to the Crisis Corps to provide Tsunami Recovery aid, RPCVs have written a letter urging President Bush and Congress to aid Democracy in Ukraine, and RPCVs are writing NBC about a recent episode of the "West Wing" and asking them to get their facts right about Turkey. |
| Ask Not As our country prepares for the inauguration of a President, we remember one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century and how his words inspired us. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." |
| Latest: RPCVs and Peace Corps provide aid Peace Corps made an appeal last week to all Thailand RPCV's to consider serving again through the Crisis Corps and more than 30 RPCVs have responded so far. RPCVs: Read what an RPCV-led NGO is doing about the crisis an how one RPCV is headed for Sri Lanka to help a nation he grew to love. Question: Is Crisis Corps going to send RPCVs to India, Indonesia and nine other countries that need help? |
| The World's Broken Promise to our Children Former Director Carol Bellamy, now head of Unicef, says that the appalling conditions endured today by half the world's children speak to a broken promise. Too many governments are doing worse than neglecting children -- they are making deliberate, informed choices that hurt children. Read her op-ed and Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children 2005. |
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Story Source: China Daily
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Honduras; NGO's; Service; Libraries
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By Anonymous (wnpgmb09dc1-70-57.dynamic.mts.net - 142.161.70.57) on Saturday, December 09, 2006 - 7:28 pm: Edit Post |
what are you doing to help less fortune